Through the Trapdoor
by Insane Kitten
Summary: My masterpiece...is...COMPLETE! WoOoOoO! Never thought you'd live to see the day did you? WELL YOU HAVE! (Hopefully, assuming you're reading this and you're alive...) HAPPY READING EVERYBODY!
1. In which there are some very persistant ...

The Fans Hit Tortall  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything really, except the plot. And I actually used someone else's idea, sort of, so when you're done with mine read RoseFyre's stuff. The plot is mine though! Don't steal it without permission! (Hm, that's not really stealing it if you get permission...) Enjoy!  
  
Tamora Pierce put down the cantaloupe she was holding. She had just noticed a small group of teenage girls lurking near her, and her precious fruit.  
  
No! They can't have my cantaloupe! It's mine! Thought Tamora, stroking her cantaloupe fondly. Oh, wait. They're probably fans. My fingers are already sore from autographs. Better make a run for it. Tammy set down her cantaloupe and edged away toward the canned food isle, fervently hoping the girls wouldn't notice.  
  
But the girls weren't to be shaken so easily. Tammy sighed and decided that she would have to do her shopping some other time.  
  
~*~  
  
Tammy unlocked her door and walked inside her house. She shoved aside the pile of fan mail and moved the rug to a find an old, rust-covered key. She was just walking toward the back room when there was a hesitant knock at her door. Tamora quickly shoved the key into one of her pockets.  
  
Tammy looked through the peep hole and saw the same group of teenagers who she had seen in the grocery store. She sighed exasperatedly and opened her door.  
  
"Hi!" Said one of the girls, a thin, strawberry-blonde with freckles dotting her nose and large blue-green eyes. She looked about 14.  
  
There were scatted "hi"s and "hello"s from from the other girls. Some introduced them selves but they all said it at once so Tammy couldn't actually figure out what they were saying.  
  
"Hi," Said the freckle-face strawberry-blonde again. "I'm Maddy! Don't tell us who you are, we already know. You're Tamora Pierce!"  
  
Tamora smiled. "Yes, I am. Would you like to come inside?"  
  
"Yes, thank you." Said Maddy. She then stepped into Tammy's house and beckoned to the other girls to follow her.  
  
Once all of the girls were inside and seated in comfortable chairs that were placed around a coffee table Maddy began to fidget.  
  
"Maddy, there's no point in just putting it off." Said one of the older girls.  
  
"Yes, tell her already!" Squeaked a younger girl.  
  
Maddy glared at the girls who had spoken and took a deep breath. Then said, "Ms. Pierce-"  
  
"Please call me Tamora, or Tammy, if you like." Said Tammy.  
  
"Tammy, we know there's a Tortall and we want to go there! Please, PLEASE take us!"  
  
Tammy gasped. "There is no Tortall! It's fiction." Her voice was higher than usual. Surely she couldn't tell these I children /Ithe secret she'd been hiding for the past twenty years.  
  
"We KNOW there's a Tortall Tamora" Said the older girl who had spoken earlier. "We just know it."  
  
Tammy sighed. These kids weren't going to give her a moments rest until they got what they wanted. She slowly took the key out of her pocket and walked toward the back room. The girls followed her. Maddy trotted along in front, looking extremely please with herself.  
  
Tammy stopped in front of an old oriental rug with a picture of a castle on it. She stooped down and rolled it aside. Underneath it was a trapdoor. Tamora put the key in the keyhole and turned it. The trapdoor creaked open and the girls, who were all leaning in to see what was inside, were sucked into its depths.  
  
~*~  
  
He! Does this sound good? Do you want to be in it? 'Course you do! Just write your name (and if you don't write a name, I'll just use your username), your age, your physical looks, your personality and you're favorite character, and whom you want to meet in a review or in an email. Look below for a sample!  
  
Name: Maddy  
  
Age: 14  
  
Looks: Thin, Strawberry-blonde hair, freckles (all over my nose), and large blue-green eyes  
  
Personality: Hyper, talkative, likes animals, often sarcastic, and likes to cause trouble (and lots of it! *insane giggles*)  
  
Favorite Characters: CLEON! YEAH! GO CLEON! *Dances around* He's so cool! 


	2. In which there is a sound called FWUMP

FWUMP! The teenagers and the author landed safely on a large bed in a well- lit room. The girls looked around the room. There were all sorts of things, interesting things, in the room: Pictures of Immortals, a few swords hanging on the wall, a sharpening rock and a dagger lay on the table.  
  
"Where are we?" Asked one of the girls. "And-holy shit-what am I wearing?" She was wearing a beautiful satin dress of a turquoise color, and soft-soled slippers. The other girls looked down to see what they were wearing. Some of the girls wore dresses and slippers, while others wore breeches, shirts and boots. Tammy herself was wearing a high-collared, maroon shirt, breeches and calf-high riding boots.  
  
Tamora looked at the girl who had spoken. "We are in Tortall, in the palace to be specific, and in my quarters to be exactly, exact. What is your name again?"  
  
"Krizsta." Said Kriztsa, frowning. "But I don't want to be a lady, I want to be a knight!" The other girls in dresses voiced their opinions.  
  
"Yeah! Why are we in dresses."  
  
"No fair! I wanna be a knight!"  
  
Tamora looked at the girls. "Well I don't know for sure because I've never brought anyone here before, but I assume that you aren't knights because you're either too old, or secretly don't really think you have what it takes to be a knight."  
  
The girls nodded. Then Maddy said, "I'm too old to start out as a page, but I'm still in breeches!"  
  
Tammy looked at Maddy's shirt. There was a small pin on it with the insignia of the Riders. "Well, it looks like you're a Rider trainee!"  
  
Maddy grinned broadly. "Hey! Cool!  
  
Another girl stepped forward and high-fived Maddy. "I'm a Rider too!"  
  
"Yeah!" Said Maddy, doing a little happy dance around the room. "Anne Marie and me are Riders! Anne Marie and me are Riders!" She sang.  
  
So while Maddy and Anne Marie were doing a happy dance around in circles, and the girls in dresses were pouting, or pretending to pout, Tammy turned her attention toward the two other girls in breeches. "You two are going to be pages I suppose."  
  
The girls smiled and looked happy. Then suddenly a sparrow flew through the window and perched on one of the girls' in a dresses shoulder. The girl looked at the bird and nodded. "It says that there's trouble in hall! Wait...how do I know that?"  
  
"You must have wild magic Maria!" Said another girl.  
  
"That would be so cool, Diana!" Said Maria  
  
Diana then gave a look of utter concentration and a green flame appeared on each of her fingertips. "Hey look everyone! I have the Gift!"  
  
So Maria and Diana ran over to happy dance with the going-to-be-pages, Maddy and Anne Marie. All of the other girls concentrated on their palms and another girl in a dress ran to join them after a blue fire had flared up in her palm.  
  
"Good job, Kate!" Said Maddy, holding up her had for a high-five from Kate. Kate high-fived it and everyone began to happy-dance once again again.  
  
Tammy couldn't share their glee. Trouble in the hall? She walked over to the door, unlocked it, and opened it.  
  
Voices streamed into the room. "Don't you ever, EVER even try that again!" Said a female voice. Hearing it, all of the girls walked outside to she what was going on.  
  
A young woman stood over a man who was lying on the ground in a crumpled heap. The man screwed up his face and spat at the girl. The young woman slammed her foot into the back of the man's head, causing him to go face first back into the ground and also making his nose bleed.  
  
"Don't even think about it." Said the lady. Then she looked up and saw Tammy with several teens standing behind her. "My lady, ladies!" She said, scurrying over to them.  
  
"Lalasa!" Tammy said. There were gasps from the girls. "How are you?"  
  
"I'm fine," said Lalasa. "No help to that bastard, if you'll pardon my language. Who are these young women with you?"  
  
"Oh, I plum forgot!" Said Tammy, looking slightly abashed. "These are some of my friends from...back at the fief. You all can introduce yourselves, I think."  
  
"Pleased to meet you! I'm Krizsta!" Said Krizsta, holding out her hand for Lalasa to shake, but then when Lalasa just stared at it, Krizsta pulled it back in and curtsied clumsily.  
  
"I'm Maddy!" Said Maddy, bowing, and almost falling head over heels in the process.  
  
"Hello Lalasa. I'm Anne Marie." Said Anne Marie, bowing.  
  
"I'm Diana." Said Diana, curtsying.  
  
"Wonderful to meet you, Lalasa. My name's Maria." Said Maria, curtsying and stroking the sparrow on her shoulder.  
  
"I'm Olivia." Said Olivia, bowing.  
  
"I'm Rosefyre!" Said Rosefyre, bowing, stopping herself halfway, and curtsying.  
  
"I guess that would make me Kate!" Said Kate, laughing and bowing. "It's quite wonderful to finally meet you!"  
  
"Thank you! The pleasure is truly mine." Said Lalasa.  
  
"Now, Lalasa, who was that man?" Said Tammy, sounding serious.  
  
"Just Garvey of Runnerspring. I'm fine, honestly, Lady Tamora. Garvey knows not to mess with the now or he'll get his ass whooped." Said Lalasa, smiling grimly.  
  
"Well let me know right away if he tries anything." Said Tammy, just as grim. "We have to go now." Tammy then steered the teens away from the curtsying maid and up a stairway. They stopped in front of a large oak door.  
  
"Where are we?" Asked Olivia.  
  
"Well, I figure since you're here I'll give you the Royal Tour and-"  
  
"Yeah, but where are we?" Cut in Anne Marie.  
  
Tammy glared at Anne Marie as if to say never ever interrupt me again, and put her hand on the doorknob. "Well, I figure the best way to start the Royal Tour is with royalty. This is the room of King Jonathan."  
  
  
  
~*~  
  
*Gasp* What happens now? Please R&R. Let me know if you wanna be in it! If you tell me now, you won't be one of the teens from Earth but I'll put you in as a knight or a Lady or whatever. Come on! It'll be fun!+- 


	3. In which there quite a few people faint

Maria fainted. Diana gasped and looked pale. Krizsta swayed on the spot. Kate ran over to them and revived Maria with her blue flame.  
  
"The KING?" Said a weak and shaking Diana. "KING JONATHAN?"  
  
"Yes. That's the only king of Tortall I know." Tammy said stiffly, making the girls wonder why they were going to see the king, since it obviously wasn't on the top of Tammy's list for things she wanted to do.  
  
Tammy then slowly turned the brass doorknob, and walked into the king's chambers, looking as if she were walking into the gallows. The teenagers followed looking like extremely bewildered sheep.  
  
Inside the room sat a man that looked to be in his late forties or early fifties. He had black hair and vivid blue eyes. He wore a gold crown on his head that was set with rubies and diamonds. He wasn't the only one in the room though. There was also a slightly younger woman, although she was much shorter, with flaming red hair and purple eyes. There was a man with graying hair and a small beard. And the last man was big, had a kind face, and dark brown hair.  
  
Tammy shuffled up and sat down next to the kind looking man and the woman with red hair. The teens looked as if they were about to explode and were barely stopping themselves. Anne Marie opened and closed her mouth several times, willing something to come out, but nothing ever did.  
  
Finally the king, and he had to be the king he looked-there is only one word for it-regal, stood and said. "Lady Tamora, we did not expect you back from your fief until the autumn."  
  
"Yes, Jon, but...things came up." Her eyes traveled to the teens on the wall. Jon stared at Tammy with a look of venom. He knew what had happened even if the others didn't. He knew.  
  
"I don't suppose these THINGS had anything to do with the huge magical shock on the barrier surrounding Tortall, do you Lady Tamora? And who are all these young ladies? Friends from the fief, I assume." Said Jon, his eyes lingered on each of the teens, then flashed back to Tamora.  
  
"Yes Jon. We, er, got here by magical transport and didn't know that it would effect the barrier so much."  
  
"I see. I would like to see you in the back room for a second, Tam." Said the king motioning for her to follow. Tammy followed him, stopping right before the door to glare at the girls for a second.  
  
As soon as the doors shut there was mass chaos. The girls all began talking at once, each trying to be louder than the others so that they would be heard.  
  
"Quiet down! Quiet down!" Said the man with graying hair. It had absolutely no effect what so ever.  
  
"ENOUGH!" Roared the kind-faced man. The girls fell silent immediately and shrank into corners.  
  
"None of that now!" Said the red-haired lady. "I'm Alanna, this is Gareth-Gary, and this is Raoul. We aren't going to eat you."  
  
All of the girls stared at Maddy, silently willing her to say something. Maddy inhaled a huge breath and began. "Well, see, uh, we came from Lady Tamora's, uh, fief, and we came here by magic."  
  
"What Maddy's trying to say is that we're sorry if we did something we weren't supposed to do." Said Anne Marie.  
  
And with the apologies over the girls introduced themselves.  
  
"I'm Kate!" Said Kate, bowing.  
  
"I'm Olivia." Said Olivia, bowing and rushing over to Alanna to speak with her about being a knight and everything.  
  
"I'm Diana." Said Diana, curtsying, and looking slightly perturbed that Olivia got to Alanna before she did.  
  
"Lovely to meet all of you! My name is Maria!" Said Maria, curtsying and falling over. She got up looking embarrassed and brushed down her hair.  
  
"Are you OK?" Said Raoul. When Maria nodded he motioned to a chair next to him, and Maria walked over looking like she was in a dream.  
  
There was a long silence broken only by Maddy's 'OUCH' when somebody elbowed her to go next. "I'm Maddy." Said Maddy, rubbing her side as she bowed, making her look slightly comical. There was a man's laugh in the back, apparently Tammy and Jon were back, Tammy looking extremely humbled and embarrassed.  
  
"I'm Krizsta!" Said Krizsta, curtsying perfectly, to pouting stares from the other girls in dresses.  
  
"I'm Anne Marie. How are you all? I'm simply wonderful. It's a beautiful day outside don't you think so? Because I sure d-!" She stopped abruptly, noticed everyone was staring at her, bowed, and scuttled over to sit by Maddy.  
  
"I'm Rosefyre." Said Rosefyre, curtsying.  
  
"That's everyone then?" Said Gary.  
  
Tammy nodded.  
  
"Well then now we ha-" He was cut off suddenly as there was a huge shock. Jon lost all of his color, Alanna stood up, only to fall down, Gary swayed in his seat, Tammy gasped at fell over, and both Kate and Diana fainted.  
  
"What was that?" Asked Maria.  
  
"That was another assault on the magic barrier surrounding Tortall."  
  
Tammy slammed her fist into her head. "I forgot to close the portal!" She yelled in agony.  
  
Alanna stared at her. "This was you're fault?"  
  
Tammy started to run out of the room, "I'll explain later!" She yelled over her shoulder. The girls-not including Kate and Diana, who were still out cold-ran after Tammy.  
  
When they reached Tammy's door, Tammy unlocked it by magic and stormed in. There were six more girls sitting on Tammy's bed.  
  
~*~  
  
To the girls who signed up after I put up chapter two, I'll write you in more in the next chapter. OK, if you sign up now, you'll probably have a very small bit, sorry, my brain just isn't quite large enough to keep track of more than 15 people. Please read and review everyone! 


	4. In which we are introduced to the new ga...

Tammy looked like she was going to explode. "How did you get into my house?" She asked, taking huge breaths of air in between each word, making it sound as if she were about to breathe fire.  
  
A girl stumbled forward. "Sorry Ms. Pierce! We're REALLY sorry! It's just...the door was open and we didn't think you'd mind if we let ourselves in. We weren't going to screw up you stuff or anything! Honest!" The girl looked as if she were about to burst into tears.  
  
"I believe you." Said Tammy. "There's no reason to get all worked up about it. Also don't call me Ms. Pierce, it's too stuffy, call me Tamora, or Tammy. They do." She said as she pointed to the other girls. She then turned to Kate and Diana, who had just returned from Jon's room. "I'll need you two to use your Gifts with me so we can close up the portal."  
  
"OK." Said Kate, still looking slightly pale.  
  
"Ooooh! I'm gonna use my magic! I'm gonna use my magic!" Said Diana, looking completely recovered and doing a little dance.  
  
"Shut it and do what Tammy says!" Said Maria, trodding on Diana's foot.  
  
"Thank you, Maria." Tammy said, then seeing the scandalized look on Diana's foot she added. "You really do need to concentrate. I want you to think about closing the trapdoor, clear everything out of your mind that isn't about closing the trapdoor."  
  
"This is interesting." Said one of the newly arrived girls. "What are they doing?"  
  
"They're closing the portal you guys came through." Said Krizsta, looking angry. "Didn't your mothers ever teach you not to trespass?"  
  
"Yeah," said Maddy, "I mean, Goldilocks trespassed and look what happened to her!" Maddy drew her finger across her neck.  
  
"EXCUSE US!" Kate half-bellowed. "We are TRYING to work serious magic here and it doesn't help that you make us constantly loose our concentration!"  
  
There were mumbled apologies and hung heads from the girls who had been speaking.  
  
"That's better." Said Diana.  
  
"OK." Said Tammy. "Are you still concentrating on the trapdoor?" The girls nodded. "Good! On the count of 3 I want you to sort of push, but with your minds, do you understand?"  
  
"Um..." Said Kate.  
  
"More or less." Said Diana.  
  
"That's as much as we can hope for, I suppose." Said Tammy. "Ready? 1-2-3!"  
  
A burst of blue, green and chartreuse magic burst from the fingertips of the three ladies. There was a loud BANG from somewhere above and several girls jumped as there was a loud rap on the door.  
  
Tammy had just opened her mouth to say 'come in, it's open' when black fire surrounded the door and it blew off it's hinges completely.  
  
In the now door-less doorway stood an extremely tall man, at least 6'5". He had black hair that was pulled back in a low pony-tail. He didn't look at all happy. In fact, he looked rather ticked off.  
  
"I should have know it was you Tam, you're always up to something." The man yelled, not bothering to keep his voice low." That is the THIRD magical assault on the barrier. All of the signs point out that they originated from this very room. I demand to know what the hell is going on here!"  
  
"I'm sorry. I don't understand. What's the barrier?" Said Tammy, trying to buy more time to think of some sort of excuse.  
  
"The barrier is an invisible wall that surround Tortall. It keeps the enemies out. Our people can leave and re-enter the barrier. All of Tortall's mages used some of their Gift in the barrier so they all feel it if something passes through it. It doesn't really affect them if it's one or two beings, but any more and it can cause serious damage to them!" The man stopped talking, inhaled a huge breath of air and opened his mouth as if he were about to continue talking.  
  
"Oh, I'm so very sorry!" Said Tammy, actually achieving sounding sorry. "I had no idea! As you may know, my fief is on the edge of Tortall and I had some friends visit from...um...Tyra. We all got to Corus by magical transport. I didn't know it would affect the barrier like that. Sorry Numair."  
  
Several of the girls squeaked at the sound of Numair's name and ran toward him. Numair made a hasty retreat, carefully fitting the door back in place with another shot of black magic.  
  
"That's him gone." Said Tammy. "Now you all introduce yourselves. Oh and you in dresses will be nobles ladies, you in breeches will be pages, and you," said Tammy pointing to a girl with a small pin on her shirt, "will be a Rider. Any questions? I hope not because I'm not explaining anything right now."  
  
"I'm Reganas." Said a girl in breeches. "I don't want to be a page though!"  
  
"We'll figure something out for you, I'm sure." Said Tammy.  
  
"I'm Kaitlin!" Said the girl with the Rider pin. "I'm gonna be a Rider!"  
  
"OY! We are too!" Said Anne Marie.  
  
"Yeah!" Said Maddy, "Come on down!  
  
"OK." Said Kaitlin and she went over to sit with Anne Marie and Maddy.  
  
"I'm Liney." Said a girl in a dress. "I hate dresses." She said some more things but they weren't heard by anyone because she mumbled them.  
  
  
  
"Come on, Liney!" Said another girl in a dress. "It'll be fun! Oh, I'm Caprice by the way."  
  
"You're such an optimist, Caprice." Said Liney.  
  
"And damn proud of it too!" Said Caprice.  
  
"I'm Kathryn." Said a girl in breeches, smiling and attempting a bow, and tumbling over, and blushing.  
  
"That happened to me once, when I tried to curtsy. I probably looked like a fool!" Said Maria, laughing politely.  
  
"Yeah, it's just, I don't fall down that much." Said Kathryn, attempting to climb up the wall. "This wall isn't sticky enough!"  
  
"Um, right...that was my first though when I touched them too..." Said Reganas, joking.  
  
"Really?" Said Kathryn.  
  
"No." Said Reganas and Maria together, causing a few people to giggle, Anne Marie to snort, and Krizsta to topple over laughing hysterically.  
  
"It wasn't THAT funny. And I'm Lady Light!" Said a girl, bowing Yamani style, even though she was wearing a dress.  
  
"Great!" Said Tammy. "Take a while and get to know each other."  
  
The girls milled around, shaking hands and exchanging comments about what they were going to be doing. After about 10 minutes there was another knock on the door.  
  
"I hope it's Numair again." Said Rosefyre.  
  
"Oooooh!" Said Caprice and Olivia together. Rosefyre blushed.  
  
Caprice walked up to open the door because Tammy was using the chamber pot. It was Raoul, now accompanied by a young looking man with twinkling blue eyes and darkish hair.  
  
"Hello girls! I'm supposed to take you all down to the practice courts where we can 'sort you out.'" Said Raoul. "Oh, and I don't believe you've met this sergeant?"  
  
"Domition of Masbolle." Said Domition of Masbolle. "Call me Dom."  
  
Kate screamed and threw herself upon Dom. After a seconds hesitation Rosefyre walked up and joined them. The other girls looked shocked.  
  
"What's going on?" Said Tamora, returning from the bathroom.  
  
"Help me!" Cried Dom from the floor.  
  
"IT'S DOM!" Screeched Kate. "Look everyone! It's Dom!"  
  
"We saw." Said Liney, grinning at the utterly terrified look on Dom's face. "Hehe! You look funny!"  
  
"I'm thinking we should rescue him before something, you know, happens!" Said Maddy, plopping onto the ground and laughing so hard that tears streamed down her cheeks.  
  
Raoul waded in through the two girls, to pull out Dom, who looked utterly shocked at being jumped upon and almost trampled. "OK, after that, er, interesting display of affection...we should go down to the courts now. Everyone is waiting."  
  
So with Raoul and Dom leading the way the 14 girls and Tammy walked out the door, and down the stairs to the practice courts.  
  
~*~  
  
Sorry to any body who signed up after the third chapter was up. I'll try to put you in the next chapter. You wont have wonderfully huge rolls but my small brain isn't capable of storing so many names and personalities. *Puppy eyes* Forgive me?  
  
Also I haven't been putting disclaimers above every chapter because there's one over the first chapter and I figure that's enough, if you're about to sue me...don't. Here's a disclaimer just because:  
  
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Tamora Pierce, and so does *gasp* Tammy (Who is *more gasping* TAMORA PIERCE), also the people I use belong to themselves. The plot is mine though...all mine...but yet, I got the idea from Rosefyre! So read her fics, too!  
  
Wonderful, wasn't it? Course it was. Please R&R peoples! 


	5. In which we meet a bunch of true Tortall...

They arrived at the training courts and saw several people milling around. King Jon, Alanna, Gary, and Numair. There was also a young lady who looked only a little older than Rosefyre, with smoky brown hair. There was a woman with short, mouse-brown hair and muscular arms. There was a woman who was extremely beautiful with black hair to rival the king's, and she wore a tiara, making it obvious who she was. She was being closely watched by a lady with moderately long brown hair, she was the woman who Raoul had immediately zoomed over to and put his arm around. Another lady had shoulder-length black hair. Another man had short brown hair and stood next to Alanna. The last person was a tallish man with blonde hair and extremely muscular arms.  
  
The girls looked around trying to take in all of these people who that had once convinced themselves were fictional. They started to run toward them but Tammy flung out an arm.  
  
"It's best to wait here." She said. Then she looked around and lowered her void. "Make sure you don't let anything slip about there being other worlds. If you do, it could utterly destroy Tortall as we, and they, know it."  
  
The girls nodded as though they understood, but truth was, they hadn't the slightest idea what Tammy was talking about.  
  
After a little while the people came forward. "We need to know what Gifts you may possess and what you want to become." Said the blonde man. "I am Sir Padrig haMinch. I train the pages." He beckoned for Numair to come forward.  
  
"Caprice, Kate and Diana have the Gift." Said Numair, pointing to each girl as he said her name. "Lady Light and Rosefyre have the Sight. None of your Gifts are so strong that should not do anything else. But you, however," he said, pointing at Reganas, "are an extremely powerful War Mage. I suggest you don't study to become a page. I can train you specially, If you want." Reganas nodded energetically.  
  
"Sit down," said Numair, motioning to the ground. "I'll tell you about the main things you'll be learning." Reganas plopped down onto the ground and listened to Numair, intently.  
  
"Caprice, Kate and Diana will study with me." Said Alanna, stepping forward and slinging an arm around Caprice and Kate, and for lack of having a third arm she nodded kindly to Diana. "Is that OK with all of you."  
  
"Wonderful!" Said Caprice.  
  
"Yes, absolutely peachy!" Stated Kate, loudly.  
  
"What they said." Said Diana, slightly disappointed that she didn't have one of Alanna's arms around HER shoulder.  
  
"Rosefyre and Lady Light can study with me." Said the man who was standing with Alanna. "I'm George by the way. No sir. Just George."  
  
"Actually we were thinking of becoming Queen's Ladies." Said Rosefyre with a quick glance at the lady in the tiara. "If that's OK with you, of course."  
  
"That's fine. It would be wonderful to have two ladies with the Sight among us." Said Thayet, it had to be Thayet, and then she turned to Lady Light. "I hear you use the glaive."  
  
"I do." Mumbled Lady Light. "I'm not that great though..."  
  
"Nonsense!" Exclaimed Thayet. "I'm sure you're a natural. I do glaive and I'm not that great. I'm sure you're much better than me at least. But, me being as bad as I am, that's not really that hard!"  
  
"I seriously doubt that!" Said Reganas, looking up from her chat with Numair.  
  
"It's true." Said Thayet, raising her hand. "I swear! And I'm absolutely sure that Lady Light is a wonderful glaive fighter."  
  
"Well I'll let you be the judge of that." Said Lady Light, scuffing her foot on the ground. She and Rosefyre then went over to stand by Thayet, and Reganas began to listen to Numair again.  
  
The young lady with smoky brown curls then stepped up. "You and you have wild magic." Said the lady pointing at Liney and Maria. "And you," she said pointing at Maddy, "are horse-hearted. I can train you all, with the help of Numair." Numair nodded and Reganas looked happy that she would be studying with some other girls, too. "I bet you already know I'm Daine."  
  
"Yuppers!" Said Liney, looking overjoyed at the fact that she could converse with animals.  
  
"Yeah!" Said Maria. "We know that you're the greatest wild mage, um, ever!"  
  
Maddy nodded frantically. "Oh, would it be okay for me to be in the Riders too?" Pleaded Maddy, looking at Daine with bit puppy-dog eyes.  
  
"Please!" Said Anne Marie "Pretty please!"  
  
"Yeah." Said Kaitlin, after she got an elbow in the ribs from Anne Marie. "Please."  
  
"Of course it's OK!" Said Daine. "You two-"  
  
"My name's Maria, and this is Liney" Interrupted Maria.  
  
Daine laughed. "Maria and Liney should study with me 'n' Numair for a while, though.  
  
"That's fine." Said Liney, quickly.  
  
"On the Rider note," said the woman with Raoul, "Who wanted to be a Rider? I'm commander Buri."  
  
"I did, " said Kaitlin raising her hand in the air and waving it around.  
  
"I did too!" Yelled Anne Marie.  
  
"And me!" Screamed Maddy.  
  
"Such enthusiasm!" Said Buri. "Cone on over here and I'll tell you what you need to know. Oh, and that's Ouna Chamtong, out horse-mistress." The lady with short black hair stood up and waved to acknowledge herself. Then she sat back down.  
  
Maddy, Anne Marie, and Kaitlin walked over to Buri, Ouna, and Raoul who instantly began to talk about being a Rider.  
  
"Olivia and Kathryn are going to be pages." Said Tammy.  
  
"Is that correct girls?" Said Sir Padrig.  
  
"Yuh-huh!" Said Olivia.  
  
"Yup! We're up to it!" Said Kathryn.  
  
"OK. You two come over here and I'll tell you about life as a page. It wont be easy. I'm warning you." Said Sir Padrig.  
  
"He's right." Said the woman with mouse-brown hair. "I didn't loll around when I was training. I doubt you will either. I'm Keladry. Call me Kel."  
  
"Hi!" Yelled Kathryn. Bowing insanely to Kel. "How are ya?  
  
Kel laughed. "Fine thanks. Don't bow so much, you'll break your back." Kathryn blushed.  
  
Olivia laughed. "Oooh! You got told off!"  
  
Kathryn stuck out her tongue at Olivia in retaliation. And as she, Kel, and Olivia walked over to Sir Padrig, Kathryn looked up at Kel and asked, "Are there any hott guys there?"  
  
Olivia cackled. "Well duh!"  
  
"Pretty damn hott! If I do say so myself." Kel whispered. Olivia laughed even harder and fell to the ground, clutching a stitch in her side.  
  
"Yes, but that's not why we're going is it Kathryn?" Said Olivia eyeing Kathryn suspiciously.  
  
"Um, of course not!" Said Kathryn, laughing nervously. "Wherever did you get that ridiculous idea?"  
  
"Is that everyone?" Said Raoul.  
  
"No, I don't have anything to do. I'm just going to be an ordinary lady! Dammit, I always get stuck with the crappy stuff."  
  
"Why don't you be a Queen's Lady with us?" Said Rosefyre.  
  
"Yeah! Please, um, Your Majesty?" Pleaded Lady Light.  
  
"That's fine. We would love you to join our numbers. Do you like that idea, Krizsta?" Said the queen.  
  
Rosefyre and Lady Light nodded insanely behind Thayet's back. "Erm...OK." Said Krizsta.  
  
"Excellent choice!" Said Rosefyre.  
  
"Now that's everyone! I hope you all enjoy yourselves, and don't break any laws while doing so." Said King Jonathan. "I will summon people to take you to your rooms, or your commander will take you there. Girls, Tam." He nodded, dismissing them.  
  
The girls all screamed with joy. They were going to have the time of their lives here.  
  
~*~  
  
OK! For next time: Everybody finds out where they're training and sleeping and all of that fun crap. I am betting that the next chapter is going to be REALLY long. But you all aren't complaining right? Course you're not. And if you are *snarls* you'd better stop! Hehe! Sorry about that, I hate it when people diss my stories, it's better just to...OK I'll shut up now. 


	6. In which everybody goes seperate ways

"That's enough, that's enough!" Yelled Tammy a few minutes later when the girls were still screaming their joy. "No, I'm serious! SHUT UP!"  
  
The girls were startled into silence, never had they heard Tammy use such a voice with them before! Once they were absolutely quite (Liney kept saying 'eep' to everyone's utmost annoyance, and finally Diana had to slap her upside the head) they noticed another man had walked onto the field. He was tall and looked to be no older than 27 years of age. He had the most beautiful green eyes and of the girls had ever seen *AN: Except Harry Potter, but that's a completely different story, no literally*. Kate could barely keep herself from drooling, she could guess who it was. All of the girls could.  
  
"Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored!" Said Maddy in a singsong voice. "Hey, there's some new guy here!"  
  
"Yes there is! Good job! Now shut it." Squeaked Anne Marie. "It's Neal!"  
  
"Hello all of you! I'm Neal!" Said Neal. "I'm going to help Alanna train you Gifted gals! Especially if you have healing magic."  
  
Kate's jaw snapped shut. "That's me!" She yelled. "Um...Thanks for helping! It means a lot to me!" She ran over and hugged Neal around the middle. After about a second and a half Kaitlin gave a strangled cry and forgot all dignity. She scuttled over and hugged Neal too.  
  
Neal pried off the hands of the two girls and inched out, the color of a sunburned tomato. "Dom did mention something about crazed teens..." He muttered. Then he raised his voice. "What are your names?"  
  
"Kaitlin." Squeaked Kaitlin. "Is Dom still here?" She craned her neck, so she could look everywhere for Neal's cousin.  
  
"Kate is the name of me!" Said Kate, completely disorganized. "I mean... my name is Kate, Sir Neal."  
  
"None of this 'Sir' crap! I'm just Neal." Said just Neal.  
  
"Okey doke!" Said Kaitlin.  
  
"Great, sir!" Exclaimed Kate. Neal glared at her. "I mean, just great. There is no sir. There never was any sir. Sir is just a myth!"  
  
"Much better."  
  
"Well now that THAT'S over. Split up into your groups and go home!" Said Sir Padrig.  
  
Caprice and Kathryn opened their mouths as if to start screaming again. "No! None of that now!" Cried Raoul, quickly placing one of his large hands over each of the girls' mouths.  
  
"All of you lucky Rider gals-this way please!" Said Buri, standing up and motioning for Maddy, Anne Marie and Kaitlin to follow her. Ouna also got up from her seat on the ground and followed them out.  
  
Numair stood up. "Reganas, we really should see how powerful you are. The army does need more war mages and who are we do deny them of it?"  
  
"OK! What are we waiting for?" Yelled Reganas and tore off toward the palace at breakneck speed. Numair strode quickly after her.  
  
"I'm supposing that's our cue!" Said Daine. "All of you Wild Mages come with me! Mad-DAMMIT! She's gone already, hasn't she?"  
  
"I'll take a message to her." Said Neal. "I'm not the fastest, but I'm not needed yet and I'll be in Alanna's room in time to help her with the girls with healing Gifts.  
  
"Great! Tell her that she can talk to Ouna, the horse mistress, if she has any questions about her special kind of wild magic. And also that the horses will all try to talk at once and she has to clear out her mind to be able to distinguish what they each say. Also that she will need to clear her mind before attempting to call a horse to her." Said Daine, taking a deep breath. "Did you get all of that Neal?"  
  
"I got it. Is that all?"  
  
"Tell her that Kathryn said 'noodles'" Said Kathryn.  
  
"Noodles? Um, OK..." Said Neal, bewildered. "Why would you want me to tell her that?"  
  
Kathryn shrugged. "Noodles are fun." She explained.  
  
"Um, yeah, noodles are fun. Right." Said Neal, backing away and laughing nervously.  
  
"Byebye!" Yelled Liney, waving.  
  
"See you later!" Screamed Krizsta, trying her hardest to be louder than Liney.  
  
Kathryn began to zoom around in circles. "I'm bored! Oh bye Neal!"  
  
"Queens' Ladies this way!" Said Thayet.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"OY! Didn't you hear the lady? She said 'Queens' Ladies this way!'" Bellowed Lady Light. "So come on guys!" Lady Light then went over and stood by Thayet. Rosefyre and Krizsta followed.  
  
"You didn't have to YELL at us." Complained Rosefyre.  
  
"Yeah, my ears hurt." Said Krizsta, massaging her temples.  
  
"Sorry." Said Lady Light.  
  
"Are you all coming or are you going to sit here until we all grow beards?" Said Thayet. The girls look startled. Krizsta ran her hand over her chin, with a look of disgust on her face. "Well then come on!" Said Thayet. She then started to walk toward the palace.  
  
"OK! Wild girls! This way!" Yelled Daine.  
  
"Coming!" Yelled Maria. She then tripped and fell flat on her face. "Oops." She said, through a face-full of dirt and grass.  
  
Liney doubled over in silent giggles. "Are you OK?" She said through pearls of laughter.  
  
"Fine." Mumbled Maria.  
  
Daine summoned them to follow her. "Come on now. To the stables, AWAY!" She then ran down the hill at full speed. The girls, somewhat reluctantly, followed.  
  
"Dun wanna run." Muttered Liney, running anyway.  
  
"Mages in training! We should start right away, please follow me!" Said Alanna, not needing to yell.  
  
"Coming, Lanna!" Said Caprice.  
  
"Don't call me 'Lanna.'" Said Alanna. "And follow me." She then turned and walked up toward the palace. Kate, Caprice and Diana followed her. After a few seconds, so did George. Alanna waited fro a few moments, and when George caught up to her he slung his arm around her shoulders.  
  
"I'm gonna be a mage! I'm gonna be a mage!" Sang Diana and Kate, dancing around in a little circle about Caprice.  
  
"And that means you two are the pages?" Said Sir Padrig.  
  
"Yes, SIR!" Said Kathryn, a little too enthused, as Olivia nodded.  
  
"Well, I would have hoped for girls a little more muscular..." He said, eyeing Olivia's skinny waist and arms. "But, we'll knock you into shape!"  
  
"Knock us, sir?" Asked Kathryn, liking the idea of being a page less and less every second.  
  
"Yes. Now come one. We'll go up and choose you some sponsors." Sir Padrig then he turned on his heel and walked up toward the palace, the girls scurrying behind him.  
  
"I'm not so sure of this." Whispered Kathryn.  
  
"Nonsense! It'll be terrific fun!" Said Olivia.  
  
"Oh, shut up, you optimistic loser." Said Kathryn, ducking as Olivia aimed a swing at her head. "I was joking! Don't take it so personally!"  
  
"Usually, if somebody insults me, I do take it personally!" Said Olivia.  
  
A few minutes later they had vanished through the doors of the palace. As soon as the big oak front doors clacked shut Jonathan turned to Tammy. "It's a good group of girls." He said to her.  
  
"Yeah, they're real sweet, Maddy has a few issues, Maria is a bit accident prone, and Kathryn tends to get slightly hyper when bored...but they are the best bunch of girls I could hope to be here with." Said Tammy, smiling broadly.  
  
"We can only hope that they don't say anything about earth to anyone. It could seriously destroy Tortall." Said Jonathan, sounding worried.  
  
"I already spoke to them about that and I don't think that they'll say anything." Said Tammy, sounding sure of herself.  
  
"Good." Said Jon.  
  
"I'm off to catch up with some friends!" Said Tammy, starting toward the palace. "I'll see you soon, I'm sure."  
  
"Bye, Tam." Said Jon, and once she was out of earshot he whispered to nobody. "Welcome to Tortall."  
  
~*~  
  
Do you like? I need some ideas for a villain...my little brain is fizzing with all this schoolwork and I need a little help here. Please Review! Oh, and do you think it would be corny if I killed he heiress? *evil grin* 


	7. In which Maddy is REALLY hyper scary, ai...

Maddy zoomed all around her new home. "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" She yelled! "Funfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfun!"  
  
"Calm down Maddy!' Bellowed Buri. "You're going to break something!"  
  
"Yeah Maddy! You're embarrassing us!" Said Kaitlin.  
  
"Sorry." Muttered Maddy. "Just excited, is all!"  
  
"That's great." Said Buri. "Tomorrow is when we'll be getting a whole new batch of trainees so get ready. Enjoy the room while you can, because come tomorrow, it's going to be completely full."  
  
Anne Marie looked around at the twenty-some beds in the room. "Crap!" She exclaimed. "It's going to be noisy in here!"  
  
"Course it's gonna be noisy, Maddy's going to be in here." Said Kaitlin glancing at Maddy.  
  
Maddy laughed. "Ha! Ha! Ha-wait...that's cold, man."  
  
Neal poked his head in the door with his eyes closed. "Everybody decent?" He asked.  
  
"Of course we are!" Said Buri, slapping the top of Neal's head and making him flinch.  
  
"Well I don't know!" Retorted Neal. "You COULD have been having a nudefest or something like that!"  
  
Anne Marie giggled. "Nudefest!"  
  
Neal glared at her. "Yes, nudefest. Anyway, I have a message for Maddy."  
  
"For me?" Asked Maddy try her best not to start dancing around again.  
  
"Only if you're Maddy!" Said Neal. "Anyway the message is that if you have any question about your horse-magic, remember that you can ask Ouna about it. There was more, but I for get it. Oh! And Kathryn says 'Noodles,' whatever that means."  
  
Maddy's eyes widened. "Noodles?" She asked. "Noodlesnoodlesnoodlesnoodlesnoodlesnoodlesnoodlesnoodles!"  
  
Anne Marie lokoed at Maddy and then turned to Neal. "You're better leave before she gets weird."  
  
"This isn't weird?" Said Neal.  
  
"Are you kidding me?" Said Kaitlin, laughing grimly. "She's just getting warmed up!"  
  
"OK! I'm outta here!" Said Neal, hurrying out of the room as if his pants were on fire.  
  
Kaitlin laughed. "That was FUN! We scared him away!"  
  
"Noodlesnoodlesnoodlesnoodlesnoodlesnoo-"  
  
"SHUT UP!" Yelled Buri. "And goodnight!"  
  
~*~The Queen's Hallway~*~  
  
Thayet, Lady Light, Rosefyre and Krizsta arrived at their room. "You three will sleep in here, along with Uline, and Amy."  
  
Krizsta waved at them. "Hi guys! I'm Krizsta, this is Lady Light and this is Rosefyre. Lovely to meet you all!"  
  
"You wouldn't have a privy would you?" Asked Lady Light crossing her legs and wincing.  
  
  
  
Amy giggled. "It's that door there." She said pointing to a door in the back of the room. "No, not that one, that's a closet! Yes, that one!"  
  
"Oh good!" Said Lady Light opening the door to see a chamber pot. "Finally!"  
  
"So is being a Queen's Lady fun?" Asked Rosefyre.  
  
"Oh, fun enough." Said Uline.  
  
"There's a lot of riding through mud and attending boring social functions, but, you know, it's fun anyway!" Said Amy.  
  
"You obviously have one of those optimistic opinions on life." Said Rosefyre.  
  
"That was refreshing!" Said Lady Light, returning from the privy.  
  
"Well you girls really should go to bed." Said Thayet. "No doubt we'll be up early tomorrow."  
  
"Crap." Said Rosefyre. "I have waking up early."  
  
"yes, well, life's a bitch." Said Amy. "Get used to it. Gods! I was kidding! You guys are staring at me like somebody died."  
  
Krizsta mumbled something that I shan't write because....yes, you see.  
  
"Bed! Now!" Said Thayet, pointing to the five canopy beds that were positioned against the wall.  
  
"Night all!" Said Lady Light, as she flopped down on one of the beds.  
  
~*~The Stables~*~  
  
Liney stopped to catch her breath. "No...more...run." She said faintly.  
  
"That's fine!" Said Daine, still quite perky. "We're here!"  
  
The girls looked around. There were about forty horses, all of the knighting, whickering and snorting.  
  
Maria screamed softly. "I can hear them in my head!"  
  
"This is weird!" Said Liney, amazed. "Dead cool, but weird."  
  
Daine laughed. "You get used to it after a bit." She said. "It's actually quite a useful thing to have!"  
  
Where are we sleeping?" Asked Liney. "Not in the stalls, I hope!"  
  
"I'd get squished!" Yelped Maria.  
  
"Actually, you probably wouldn't." Said Daine. "The horses would know you were there and wouldn't step on you. But we aren't sleeping there. We're going to sleep in the loft." She then turned to the ladder and climbed up.  
  
Once Maria and Liney were up in the loft a pudgy man appeared out of a corner.  
  
"Hello Stefan!" Said Daine to the man. "Girls this is Stefan Groomsman. And this," she said, gesturing to the girl who had come up behind Stefan is his daughter, Kaytee."  
  
"Hello." Said Kaytee. She was quite pretty with her large beetle black eyes and slim figure.  
  
"Would you like to kip with us tonight Kaytee?" Aksed Liney.  
  
"Okay." Said Kaytee.  
  
"Goody!" Said Maria, settling into the straw. "Goodnight everyone!"  
  
  
  
~*~Alanna's Rooms~*~  
  
"This is it!" Said Alanna, coming to a halt and opening the door. "It's not wonderful, but it's a home, for a bit of the year at least."  
  
The girls looked around the room. There were weapons on tables and on the walls. A door leading to the privy, a door to a changing room, and a door that had a reason that the girls didn't know.  
  
"That is where George and I sleep." Said Alanna, pointing to the door with the unknown purpose. "Knock before you come in."  
  
"Where will we sleep?" Asked Caprice.  
  
"Who need sleep?" Asked Kate. "We're just going to do magic and meditate all night. Right?"  
  
"No." Said George, flatly. "You all are young, you need your sleep."  
  
Kate stuck out her tongue at George as Neal poked his head in. "Back!" He said, triumphantly.  
  
"Damn, I hoped we got rid of him!" Said Alanna, snapping her fingers as if in defeat.  
  
"I see that I'm not appreciated here!" Said Neal, huffily.  
  
"We appreciate you, Neal!" Said Diana quickly.  
  
"Yeah!" Said Caprice.  
  
"Tons!" Said Kate. "Wanna hug?"  
  
"No, not really." Said Neal. Kate hugged him anyway. "Well I'm off to my rooms now! I'll be here bright and early tomorrow morning!"  
  
"Early?" Said Caprice. "Who said anything about early?"  
  
"Early is evil." Agreed Diana.  
  
"Byebye, Neal-i-poo!" Said Kate, giving Neal one last hug.  
  
"Bye." Said Neal, worming out of Kate's hug as quickly as possible and shutting the door behind him.  
  
"Okay." Said Alanna. "I'm afraid I don't have any cots, but I'll get you some blankets and you guys can camp out on the floor for tonight."  
  
"Goodnight then!" Said Diana.  
  
Kate was already asleep. George chuckled and placed a blanked over her.  
  
~*~Numair's Rooms~*~  
  
"Is this it?" Asked a very excited Reganas.  
  
"This is it." Said Numair, nodding.  
  
"Wow!" Said Reganas. "You have a lot of crap...I mean junk...I mean stuff?"  
  
Numair laughed. "I would say most of it is crap." He said. "You can have Daine's room for tonight, it's in that room." He pointed to the room on the left side. "I'll be in that room." He pointed to the room on the right side.  
  
"Cool sir!" Said Reganas.  
  
"Numair." Said Numair. "We start bright and early tomorrow, so try to get some sleep."  
  
"Thanks for teaching me Numair." Said Reganas.  
  
"My pleasure." Said Numair, smiling.  
  
"Goodnight." Said Reganas, going off to Daine's room.  
  
~*~Pages' Hallway~*~  
  
Olivia and Kathryn had to take two steps to equal one of Sir Padrig's.  
  
"This will be your room, Olivia." Said Sir Padrig, pointing to a room with a blank slate on it. "Write you name on the slate."  
  
"Thanks Paddy, my man." Said Olivia.  
  
"It's Sir Padrig, page." Said Sir Padrig.  
  
"Sorry Sir Padrig." Said Olivia, scribbling her name onto the slate. "Bye Kath!"  
  
"Bye Olive!" Said Kathryn.  
  
"If you'll follow me page Kathryn." Said Sir Padrig. He led Kathryn to a door about three away from Olivia's. "This is your room."  
  
"I suppose I write my name on the slate?" Said Kathryn.  
  
"Yes." Replied Sir Padrig. "When the horn sounds you are expected to be dressed and out of bed. Goodnight, page." He then strode away.  
  
Kathryn walked into her room and flopped down onto her bed. "Goodnight." She said to herself, and she promptly fell asleep.  
  
~*~  
  
Do you love it?  
  
Of course you do.  
  
Come on people! I really need villain ideas! You can talk to me on IM, too, I'm CleonFanatic (funny name I know). Let me know what you think and click on that little blue-gray button at the bottom! 


	8. In which there is a neato sound, no, not...

Wait! Just a note before I start...I got a villain! Woohoo! Go me, and the people who helped! Yey! No, I'm not going to tell you what it is yet! *Cackles insanely and mutters to herself* Kill them with the suspense...Heh, heh...Kill 'em off. Anyway, enjoy! I'm going to do the order the thingies according to when they wake up...of course you understand what I'm talking about.  
  
  
  
~*~In The Stables~*~  
  
"What's that racket?" Yelled Liney. "Stupid birds! Shut up! Oops...I mean...Please be quite you lovely little birds."  
  
Kaytee yawned and stretched. "Happy morning guys."  
  
Maria gave a big snore. Liney stumbled over and shook her to wake her up. "Wake up." Said Liney.  
  
Maria gave a huge yawn and opened her eyes. "Where Daine?" She asked.  
  
"I'm right here!" Said Daine in a happy sing song voice.  
  
"You're way too perky in the morning." Mumbled Kaytee. "We're lucky you don't sleep here often."  
  
"Are you kidding, it's practically the afternoon!" Said/sang Daine.  
  
"What time?" Asked Liney.  
  
"Why according to the sun, it's about 6 hours past midnight."  
  
"Fuck." Said Liney. "Um I mean, 'oh darn!'"  
  
"No. You were right the first time." Muttered Maria. "I'm gonna die. "It's way to early. I'm just gonna be randomly walking along when I fall down dead asleep because I woke up way too early."  
  
Daine smiled. "Come on, we get to start learning how to talk to animals better." She said. "We'll have a blast!"  
  
Liney growled. Kaytee hopped up and started to leave. "I'll be going now, some more pages came today and I have to make all of the horses beautiful." She waved and left.  
  
"It's going to be a long day." Said Maria. Liney nodded in agreement.  
  
~*~Alanna's Room~*~  
  
"Up!" Yelled Alanna. "I said, UP! Come on shake yourselves! Get up!"  
  
"Someone is going to die." Mumbled Kate. "If that's Maddy, banging a pot, like she did last week...so help me I'll..."  
  
"No." Said George, bleary-eyed. "Apparently it's time for all of you to get up." He tried, and failed, to stifle a yawn.  
  
"Then it wasn't all just a dream!" Said Caprice hopping out of the blankets and hugging Alanna and George around the middles. "I'm really here."  
  
Diana mumbled something that sounded something like 'shut your pie hole you loser, we're trying to sleep.'  
  
"Of course you're here." Said George. "Where else would you be?"  
  
"Ug." Muttered Diana. "Mrifflefrazle."  
  
"Sorry," said Alanna, "didn't catch that."  
  
"Neffa mind." Mumbled Diana.  
  
Kate gave a snore, and Caprice hopped over to wake her up. "Wake up sleepy head! We get to train today!" Caprice almost yelled. "Come on! I wanna learn stuff." She aimed a kick at Reganas.  
  
"Kick me and I'll break your leg." Said Kate.  
  
"All of you had better get up before Alanna lights a fire on your blanket." Said George, sounding serious.  
  
Kate's eyes got wider. "She can do that?" Kate asked. "Truly?"  
  
George raised his hand as if he were about to pledge or make a swear. "Would I lie to you?"  
  
"Probably." Said Diana.  
  
"OK, that's enough of that." Said Alanna, butting in. "I want all of you, no not you George, to concentrate on your palms, try to make a flame appear."  
  
All of the girls stared at their palms for a second and then began to concentrate. After a few seconds a red-orange flame appeared in Caprice's palm. Caprice stared at if for a second wondering what to do because her hand was apparently on fire.  
  
"Good job!" Said Alanna. "Diana and Kate concentrate!"  
  
Suddenly a teal blue flame erupted from Kate's hand and in a few more seconds a mushroom green flame appeared in Daina's.  
  
"Oooh! Look!" Said Caprice. "We all have flames! Mine's the brightest!"  
  
She was right. Caprice's flame was a vibrant, steady orange flame. Diana's was slightly weaker, flickering often but never going out. Kate's was the weakest, an almost dreary blue tinted flame.  
  
"Mine is lame!" Said Kate. "Why is mine so weak?"  
  
"You're magic is specially for healing." Said George. "You won't be able to do much else. That's why we-"  
  
At that second Neal knocked on the door once and poked his head in the door. "I'm here!" He said, triumphantly. Kate ran over to hug him.  
  
After Neal had received his hug he walked over to Alanna and George. "I'm here to help you guys. Which one of you has the healing magic? It's you, isn't it?" He said, pointing to Kate. Kate nodded. "Let's get cracking then. What you have to do is-" Suddenly there was a huge noise like the air being let out of a balloon, only magnified a hundred times.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Asked Caprice.  
  
"I don't think it was good." Said Alanna. "Come on guys, we have to see the king."  
  
~*~Pages Hallway~*~  
  
An extremely loud horn blast made Olivia fall face first out of her bed. "Oh, shoot! I was supposed to be up and dressed by now!" She dressed hurriedly, muttering curses to herself.  
  
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. "Just a second!" Said Olivia, trying to get her other foot into her sock, while buttoning up her shirt at the same time. "Coming!" She yelled and she walked over to open the door.  
  
It was sir Padrig. "Just making sure that you're up." He said. "You must report to the mess hall in 10 minutes.  
  
"Don't I have to choose a sponsor?" Asked Olivia.  
  
"That was only a rule when Lord Wyldon was in command." Said Sir Padrig. "I have abolished it because I found it irksome."  
  
"Oh." Said Olivia, slightly disappointed.  
  
Suddenly Kathryn came running up. "Olivia! You'll never guess how many hot guys there are here!" She yelled. Then she noticed Sir Padrig. "Um, hello sir."  
  
"I'll leave you two to you're talk." Said Sir Padrig, walking away.  
  
"Thank you sir." Said Kathryn, blushing furiously.  
  
As soon as he was out of earshot Kathryn started up again, this time in fragments. "Lotsa...hot...guys."  
  
"Wooohoo!" Cheered Olivia.  
  
"Well we really should go down to breakfast." Said Kathryn.  
  
"Yeah, we have to scope out the possibilities." Said Olivia.  
  
So Kathryn and Olivia slowly walked down the stairs in the direction they thought was the way to the mess hall.  
  
~*~Numair's Room~*~  
  
Reganas was jostled awake by a loud knock on the door. She opened it. Numair stood there, but it was not the same Numair who had been there last night. This Numair was pale, sweating and looked extremely sick.  
  
"Oh my gods, are you OK?" Asked Reganas, who also felt slightly sick.  
  
"All the magic has been drained from Corus, perhaps all of Tortall, and I have no idea where it has all been absorbed too." Said Numair, weakly.  
  
"Oh no! That's horrid!" Gasped Reganas. "Who's behind it?"  
  
"Well," said Numair, "If I knew, I would be on top of him beating the life out of him. But sadly, I haven't a clue."  
  
Reganas nodded. "We have to do something! And soon!"  
  
"We are going to go and see the king." Agreed Numair.  
  
"Off we go then!" Said Reganas, grimly.  
  
~*~Riders' Barracks~*~  
  
"EVERYBODY UP!" Yelled a masculine voice from right outside the door. "NOW! Come on trainees we don't have all day!"  
  
Maddy muttered something and fell out of bed. "Hrmf!" She sputtered as she hit the ground.  
  
"Wassat?" Mumbled Anne Marie. "Whazzagoinon?"  
  
"Finally!" Said Kaitlin, fully awake and fully dressed. "I thought they were going to let us sleep all day!"  
  
"Oomph." Garbled Maddy.  
  
"Whozzat?" Asked Anne Marie, trying to pull her had onto her foot.  
  
"That was Sarge." Said Kaitlin. "And that's a hat."  
  
"UP!" Bellowed Sarge.  
  
"We're coming!" Shouted Kaitlin.  
  
Maddy thrashed around trying to get out of her covers. When she finally managed it Anne Marie was dressed, with all of the articles of clothing on the right parts of her body. Maddy grumbled to herself, as she got dressed.  
  
"Come on Maddy, I want to meet everyone!" Said Anne Marie, now almost as awake as Kaitlin.  
  
"Yeah, hurry up." Said Kaitlin  
  
"OK! I'm done." Maddy said.  
  
Kaitlin ran over to open the door. There was a large black man roughly the size of a bear standing there. "Hello trainees." He said. "I'm Sarge."  
  
There were muttered hellos from the three girls.  
  
"You three will go down to breakfast and eat with the other Riders and trainees." Said Sarge. "Breakfast is straight down those stair and right down the hallway. It'll be the double doors to your left."  
  
"Thanks, Sarge." Said Anne Marie.  
  
When they got to the mess hall there were about a hundred men, women, girls and boys eating food.  
  
"Oooh!" Cooed Maddy. "Look at all of the hot guys!"  
  
"Right." Said Kaitlin.  
  
"PANCAKES!" Yelled Anne Marie, causing most of the heads at their end of the room to turn and look at her. She laughed nervously. "Sorry." She muttered.  
  
A boy who looked to be about 15 walked over to them. "Hi!" He said. The girls noticed he had gray eyes, reddish-brown hair and freckles dotting his nose. "I'm Meron. You guys must be new. What are your names?"  
  
"I'm Maddy, this is Anne Marie, and this is Kaitlin." Said Maddy, just barely stopping herself from drooling over Meron. Kaitlin and Anne Marie could tell that Maddy had fallen for him and did the noble thing.  
  
"Well, we're just going to get some of those pancakes now." Said Anne Marie, grabbing Kaitlin's arm and dragging Kaitlin after her.  
  
"So," said Maddy, trying to make conversation, "where are you from, Meron?"  
  
"Kennan." Said Meron. "I'm noble, but Mother and Father didn't have enough money for me to train as a page, so I took the next best thing, and here I am!"  
  
Maddy almost died. "Kennan? You're Cleon's son?"  
  
"Yes. How do you know my dad?"  
  
"Never mind." Said Maddy, quickly.  
  
"Did you want to sit over here with me and my friends?" Said Meron, beckoning Maddy over to a table with two other boys sitting at it.  
  
"Sure, can my friends sit with us?" Asked Maddy.  
  
"I don't see why not!" Said Meron, happily.  
  
Maddy beckoned for Anne Marie and Kaitlin to come over. Suddenly Kaitlin began talking. "Did you hear about the magic shortage?"  
  
~*~Queen's Hallway~*~  
  
A bird chirped on the window and Thayet knocked on the door. Amy, Uline, Krizsta and Lady Light were already awake and pulling on clothes. Rosefyre was just getting out of her covers.  
  
"I was just about to wake you up." Krizsta said to Rosefyre.  
  
Rosefyre yawned in reply.  
  
"Breakfast is in a few minutes!" Thayet yelled through the closed door.  
  
"I feel funny." Said Lady Light.  
  
"Come to think of it I feel a little sick too." Said Rosefyre.  
  
"It's probably just nerves." Said Amy.  
  
"I feel great!" Said Krizsta, happily. "I'm ready to start riding, and learning combat, and dancing, and-"  
  
"Well I'm hungry!" Interrupted Amy.  
  
"That's probably it." Said Lady Light. "We're probably just hungry."  
  
So Uline, Amy, Rosefyre, Lady Light, and Krizsta walked down to the mess hall together. When they got there they chose a table and dug into their food.  
  
"This is really good!" Said Lady Light. "What is it?"  
  
"Got me!" Said Amy.  
  
After they had all stuffed their faces full of this mysterious but delicious substance another girl came over to their table. "Do any of you have any kind of magic?" She asked.  
  
"Rosefyre and I have the Sight." Said Lady Light. "Why do you ask?"  
  
"Because all of the magic is disappeared!" The girl said, waving her hands around wildly. "Poof! Gone!"  
  
"Oh no!" Said Krizsta. "We have to tell the king!"  
  
~*~  
  
In the next chapter everyone...goes to see the king! *Does a happy dance* the king! Yeeeeeey! Oh, to anyone who cares, do not drink cocoa then have a coke right afterwards. I feel sick. GOOD FOR ME!! Yeeeeeey! Review please. 


	9. In which Neal does a lot of running arou...

"Settle down everyone! Settle down!" Yelled the king. "Now really, that's enough!" Finally everyone calmed down. "Could somebody tell me what the hell is going on? And why do I feel so funny?"  
  
"Sire!" Said Reganas. "All of the magic in Tortall has been sucked up!"  
  
"Is this true?" Asked King Jonathan, alarmed.  
  
"I'm afraid so." Said Numair. "When I find out who did it...so help me...I'll...." He made a violent gesture in midair.  
  
"Numair!" Scolded Alanna.  
  
"We have to get everybody else up here." Said King Jon. "Are you up for another run, Neal?"  
  
"Not really, sir." Said Neal.  
  
"Too bad." Said Alanna. "Get Daine and her girls, the Rider trainees. Yes, all of them, except not the few that signed up today, and Buri. Grab Raoul if he's there, too. Then go down to the pages' hallway and grab Olivia, Kathryn and maybe a few boys. Then you have to go to the Queen's hallway and get Lady Light, Rosefyre and Krizsta. That's everyone I think...actually if you could grab Sir Kel, Sir Cleon and George it would help. I'm not sure where Kel or Cleon will be, but George is probably still in my rooms where I left him. Oh, and don't forget to get Lady Tamora. Her rooms are on the second floor. I think her room number is 209."  
  
"Er...I think I got all of that." Said Neal. "Can I grab my sons, too? Samkin's a second year page and Peter's a fourth year."  
  
"Sure, grab them." Said the king. "We can use them."  
  
"Thank you sire." Said Neal, bowing.  
  
"Bye Neal!" Said Kate, giving him a parting hug.  
  
"Bye Kate." Said Neal, giving Kate a tiny squeeze with one of his arms. When Kate let go he rushed out of the room towards the practice courts.  
  
Kate was in shock. "He likes me!" She yelled in hysteria. "He likes me!"  
  
"Yey for you!" Said Caprice hopping up and down with Kate.  
  
"Yey for all of us." Said Diana, in a would-be-happy tone. "I wonder who sucked up all of the magic."  
  
"Will we ever know?" Asked Reganas.  
  
~*~  
  
Neal ran doggedly along the hallway. Finally he came to the pages mess hall. He poked his head in and then walked over to Sir Padrig.  
  
"Sir, I need a few pages for a special mission." Said Neal, slightly out of breath.  
  
Sir Padrig looked skeptical. "What sort of mission?" He asked.  
  
"It's for the king." Said Neal. "I'm not sure if I can tell you."  
  
Sir Padrig sighed. "OK. You may take as many as five pages. No more than that. All right?"  
  
"That's fine sir." Said Neal.  
  
Neal wove through the tables looking at the pages. He picked out Olivia, who hugged him around the middle immediately, and Kathryn easily because they were the only girls. Then he continued to look for his sons. He found Samkin, a tall, freckle-faced, black-haired, black eyed, smiling boy but he had some difficulty finding Peter. Finally Peter, a tall, green eyed, brownish-black haired boy, who wore a smile almost as big as his brother's, walked through the doors, to evil looks from some of the pages.  
  
  
  
"Finally!" Said Sir Padrig. "As you know, a late knight can loose lives. Report to me when breakfast is over."  
  
"Yes sir." Said Peter.  
  
"With that said, tuck in everyone!" Said Sir Padrig.  
  
Neal, Kathryn, Olivia and Samkin hurried over to Peter. "Come with me." Said Neal.  
  
"Are you going to tell me off again, dad?" Asked Peter.  
  
"No, I'm going to bring you on a mission to save all of the magic in Tortall." Said Neal.  
  
Peter looked shocked for a moment then he laughed. "That was a good 'un dad. For a second, it looked like you were-"  
  
"Serious." Said Neal. "I am. Let me just speak to Sir Padrig for a moment, I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." He scurried off to excuse the four pages from training.  
  
"I'm Kathryn." Said Kathryn. "And this is Olivia."  
  
"I'm Samkin." Said Samkin. "Call me Sam. Everybody does. Except Da, but he's kinda weird."  
  
Olivia cracked up. "Too right!"  
  
"I'm Peter." Said Peter. "It's wonderful to make the acquaintances of two such lovely ladies."  
  
Kathryn snorted. "You're just like your dad. You know that, don't you?"  
  
Peter nodded. "And proud of it too."  
  
"Okay. All done. Now we have to go to the stables." Said Neal, returning from his chat with Sir Padrig.  
  
When they reached the stables Olivia ran ahead. "Liney, Maria and Daine! Are you here?" She called.  
  
Daine poked her head out from inside a horse's stall. "Yes, we're here. What did you want? Oh, hello Neal, Peter, Sam."  
  
"We need to grab you guys." Said Neal. "There's a big problem and some evil guy is sucking up all of the magic in Tortall! We will definitely need your, and the animals', help."  
  
"Sure, we'll come." Said Liney.  
  
"Yeah, you know, it could be fun or something." Said Maria, stepping into a pile of horse dung by mistake. "Ew, nasty."  
  
Liney giggled and Olivia snorted. Samkin and Peter smiled politely. Kathryn, however, dissolved into fits of laughter and had to be slapped hardily on the back by Sam until she stopped.  
  
"Sorry." Murmured Kathryn when she had finally stopped.  
  
"No prob." Said Sam.  
  
"Well, I suggest we go now." Said Daine. "Before the horses find out where we're going and persuade us to stay."  
  
"Well then off we go!" Said Liney.  
  
When Neal, Peter, Sam, Kathryn, Olivia, Daine, Liney and Maria arrived at the Rider's Mess Hall Buri greeted them.  
  
"Hello everyone." She said happily. "What are you here for?"  
  
"We have to grab you and all of your trainees, except the brand new ones." Said Neal. "And Raoul, if he's here, which he is." He then raised his voice. "I see you Raoul, come out of the hangings."  
  
A large man stepped out from behind the curtains looking sheepish. "I didn't think anyone could see me." He said.  
  
"Of course we could see you. There was a big old lump behind the hangings!" Said Liney. Raoul stuck out his tongue at her.  
  
"We don't really have any trainees except for the brand new ones." Said Buri. "We have, I think, six. Maddy, Anne Marie, Kaitlin, Marc, Meron, and Gregory. The girls are still a bit green but I'm sure they'll be fine."  
  
"Well I just go grab them, you think?" Said Neal. He strolled over to their table and almost dragged them back over to the rest of the people.  
  
"What's the deal?" Said Gregory, he was tall, had dirty blond hair, and blue eyes. It was apparent that his fief was near Scanra.  
  
"We need you all to come with us so that we can take back the magic that was stolen from Tortall!" Said Daine.  
  
"Oh! That'll be fun!" Said Marc. Marc had black hair, black eyes and was only a few inches shorter than Meron and Gregory, who were about the same height.  
  
"When do we leave?" Asked Meron, who had his elbow on Maddy's shoulder. Maddy was about a head shorter then Meron.  
  
"Now." Said Neal. "Don't bother grabbing necessities. You'll be supplied."  
  
"New clothes?" Asked Kaitlin. "Oh boy!"  
  
"Yes, yes." Said Neal. "Great fun. Now let's go."  
  
In a few minutes they bumped into Dom. "Where are you going?" He asked.  
  
"We have to go to the Queen's Hallway to get a few of the ladies, then to the practice courts and grab Kel and Cleon. Then to Alanna's rooms and get George." Said Neal.  
  
"Why do you need to do all of that?" Asked Dom. "And why are all of these people following you like ducklings?"  
  
Neal sighed and told him the whole story.  
  
Dom gasped. "Really?"  
  
Neal nodded. "Would you help me?"  
  
"Sure, what did you need?"  
  
"Could you go down to the practice courts and grab Cleon and Kel?" Neal asked. "That would save us a whole lot of walking."  
  
"Where do you want me to take them to?" Asked Dom.  
  
"Up to the King's Suite." Said Neal.  
  
"Okay." Said Dom. "I'll take them there. I'll see you there in a few minutes." Dom then turned and ran off toward the practice courts.  
  
When they all arrived at the Queen's Dining Hall they stopped to catch their breath. When Liney was just about the open the doors she was bowled over by three young ladies going the opposite way.  
  
"Hi guys!" Said Kaitlin.  
  
"What are you all doing here?" Asked Rosefyre.  
  
"We were coming to get you." Said Anne Marie.  
  
"Why?" Asked Lady Light.  
  
"Because we're about to go off to save our magic from some weird evil dude!" Said Maddy waving her hands around.  
  
"Oh! We were just about to warn the king." Said Krizsta.  
  
"It's good you guys came, though." Said Rosefyre. "Because we haven't a clue where the king's rooms are!"  
  
"Let's go then!" Said Neal. "The 'evil dude' as you so gracefully put it Maddy, won't wait for us!" He then started off up the stairs.  
  
When they arrived at Alanna's room they found it empty. "Dom probably already got George." Said Liney.  
  
"Yeah, that's probably it." Said Maria.  
  
"Well can we not stand here waiting for him to come back?" Said Peter.  
  
"Yes, let's go." Said Gregory.  
  
"And before I grow a beard too." Said Meron.  
  
"Well then, let's go!" Said Neal.  
  
~*~  
  
Yey! I finally put it up! Aren't you ever so pleased with me?  
  
Good.  
  
Just one thing. I need to know who happens to want romance. Not all of you please. Thank you. Love ya'll! 


	10. The adventure begins

When Neal, Liney, Maria, Olivia, Kathryn, Samkin, Peter, Maddy, Kaitlin, Anne Marie, Meron, Marc, Gregory, Lady Light, Rosefyre, Krizsta, Daine, Raoul and Buri arrived back at the king's rooms they saw King Jonathan, Alanna, Numair, George, Dom, Caprice, Kate, Diana and Reganas sitting comfortably in armchairs that were arranged into a circle. But there were two other people sitting with them: A young woman with mouse-brown hair and a muscular body, dressed in breeches. And a man with red hair and gray eyes.  
  
"Hi dad!" Said Meron.  
  
"AEEEEEEIIII!" Screeched Maddy. She then dove on the red-haired man, who was obviously Cleon of Kennan. She was followed closely by Liney who gave a yell of, "Not without me you don't!" Before she attacked.  
  
"Didn't have time to warn him." Said Neal, shaking his head at Cleon and trying to dislodge Kate from his waist.  
  
"Help!" Cried Cleon. "I'm being attacked by hormonally-influenced teenaged girls!"  
  
King Jonathan cleared his throat loudly.  
  
"Are you choking?" Asked Olivia. "I know what to do!"  
  
"NO!" Yelled the king. "I'm fine. Stay back!"  
  
"Okay then." Said Olivia, slightly disappointed. "Just making sure."  
  
"Help!" Cried Cleon again.  
  
"Maddy, Liney, please leave Sir Cleon alone." Said Jon.  
  
Maddy and Liney let go of Cleon somewhat reluctantly and shuffled over to talk with the other girls.  
  
"Thank you," Said King Jonathan. "What I need to say, must be said. I-"  
  
"That's redundant, sire." Pointed out Rosefyre.  
  
The king glared at her. Rosefyre gulped. "Anyway," The king continued, "What I was saying is that we have to go before nightfall. Who knows what this maniac could do next? We know that his Gift is extremely strong and that he's not at all afraid to use it."  
  
"Where are we headed, if you don't mine me asking?" Asked Krizsta.  
  
"The animals say that there is a place up by the southern wall mountains that they avoid because the magical current is overly-powerful." Said Daine. "I suggest we try there first."  
  
"That's just what I was going to suggest." Said Cleon, straightening his red curls. "Kennan is near there and I've noticed quite a bit of odd activity."  
  
"But...um..."Said Maria. NO one heard be4cause they were busy yelling about what the best time to leave would be.  
  
"OY!" Bellowed Kate. "Maria was trying to say something important!"  
  
"OK, go ahead Mar." Said Diana. "You have their attention."  
  
"What I as saying is that: What should we bring?" Asked Maria, timidly.  
  
"Yeah!" Put in Kathyrn. "And should we ride, or walk, or fly-"  
  
"I suggest we go by magical transport, as it's the quickest way." Said Numair.  
  
"But-" Said Reganas.  
  
"Oh damn, you're right. We can't!" Said Numair.  
  
"The what do we do?" Asked Samkin.  
  
"I'm certainly not walking, thank you very much." Said Anne Marie.  
  
"Me neither!" Said Caprice.  
  
"Let's go on horseback." Said Jonathan. "Liney, Maria, Daine can you call the horses?" Maddy you can help too, right?" Maddy nodded. "OK, we'll need," He paused to count the number of people. "30."  
  
"Hold on there." Said Alanna. "You can't go, buster."  
  
"But-" Said Jon.  
  
"No!" Said Alanna, sternly. "You have to stay here and comfort your country."  
  
"You are mean." Said the king.  
  
"Mean I must be." Said Alanna.  
  
"Hello?" Said Kaitlin. "If you don't mind I would rather go than argue about something that is pretty obviously one-sided."  
  
"Kaitlin has a point." Said Numair. "Even if she did make it in a rude way." Kate blushed.  
  
"The 30 horses you wanted are ready. We can go as soon as we can get our supplies." Said Daine. "We'll need tents, food, weapons, and extra pairs of clothes for each of us. I'm thinking 10 tents and 2 extra pairs of clothes for everyone."  
  
"I'll go get tents!" Said Maddy. "Uh...where would they be exactly?"  
  
"I'll go with you." Said Meron.  
  
"I'll race you!" Said Maddy. "Go!" Maddy then ran straight out the door.  
  
"But you don't know where they are!" Cried Meron in vain. Maddy didn't hear, she was too far away. "OK! Wait for me."  
  
Once Meron had left and closed the door Lady Light said, "I can get weapons. I know where they are."  
  
"I'll come too." Said Rosefyre. "I'm bored."  
  
"Bye people!" Said Lady Light. "See you soon!"  
  
Rosefyre and Lady Light left, Lady Light closing the door behind her. "Is there anything else we can do?" Asked Olivia. "I'm bored out of my tree."  
  
"We could go tack up the horses and crap." Said Kathryn.  
  
"I'm coming too!" Said Liney.  
  
"And me." Said Maria. "29 horses is no 3 person task."  
  
"OK, we're gone." Said Liney, walking away.  
  
"Later all." Said Kathryn. "We have left the building." And with that she closed the door behind them.  
  
"We can get-" Started Kate.  
  
"No." Said Kel. "Nobody needs to get anything else."  
  
"But what about the clothes and stuff?" Asked Reganas.  
  
Alanna sighed. "I'm sure we can get clothing from stores when we need it."  
  
"But-" Said Caprice.  
  
"NO!" Yelled Alanna.  
  
"Well excuse us for breathing." Said Kate huffily.  
  
Diana and Reganas giggled. Samkin smiled happily. Peter laughed outright. And Marc snorted and slapped his knee.  
  
"As soon as everybody returns we can leave." Said Dom.  
  
"What?" Said Kate. "I didn't know you were still here! And so is Neal! Woohoo!" Kate dove on Dom and clamped herself around his middle.  
  
"Ah ha ha!" Said Neal. "You're in for it now!"  
  
Maddy caused a slight distraction by parading into the room carrying one rolled up tent over her shoulder like a gun. "Company, HALT!" Meron stumbled in, weighed down by nine tents, and flopped onto an armchair. Maddy bounced around doing jogging exercises.  
  
"We got...tents." Said Meron, breathing heavily.  
  
"Maddy, what did you do to him?" Asked Anne Marie.  
  
"And why is he carrying nine tents and you only have one?" Asked Kaitlin.  
  
Then they both realized something and their eyes got wider. "Ooooh!" They said in unison.  
  
Maddy grinned. Meron looked slightly triumphant. Gregory walked over and high-fived Meron.  
  
"Men." Muttered Krizsta, shaking her head.  
  
"Oh yeah." Said Maddy. "Daine said to tell you that the horses were ready."  
  
"OK." Said the king. "We can go as soon as the Lady Light and Rosefyre get back with the weapons."  
  
At that second Rosefyre and Lady Light stumbled in laden with knifes, bows, arrows, swords, spears, staves and even a few sling shots.  
  
"Speak of the devils." Said Raoul.  
  
"Excuse me?" Said Rosefyre. "I'm no devil, thank you very much."  
  
"Course you aren't Rosie, dear." Said Lady Light sarcastically.  
  
"Well maybe just a little." Said Rosefyre.  
  
"Whatever you say." Said Krizsta.  
  
"Leave me alone." Said Rosefyre.  
  
"Well can we go?" Asked Diana. "It's probably best not to keep them waiting."  
  
"Race you!" Yelled Maddy.  
  
"Not again." Groaned Meron.  
  
Everyone laughed. Then they walked down to the stables, Maddy running ahead, giggling. Meron followed her at walking quickly. Finally Meron caught up to Maddy and tackled her. "No more racing." He said.  
  
"Ooooh!" Cooed Reganas.  
  
Finally they arrived at the stables. "Finally!" Said Liney. "We were about to leave without you."  
  
"This is where I leave you." Said Jonathan. "Travel safely."  
  
"Bye Jon." Said Alanna. "Have fun while we're gone."  
  
"Yeah, right." Said Jon. "Bye." With that he walked up the hill back towards the palace.  
  
"All right everybody!" Said Neal. "Grab a mount and mount!"  
  
Kate laughed. "FUNNY! Mount, mount!" Everybody stared at her. "It's funny." Said Kate, shyly.  
  
"Um, right." Said Peter. "Of course it is, dearie."  
  
Kate stuck out her tongue at him.  
  
"You made jokes out of it but have you done it?" Asked George. "No. Mount already!"  
  
"Yes sir. Sorry sir." Said Kate.  
  
When everyone had chosen a horse Kathryn smiled. "Oh boy!" She said. "An adventure."  
  
~*~  
  
Another chapter! Yey! Shower me in gifts and praise. I'm not going to put up another chapter until ALL FOURTEEN OF YOU review. Or at least, until I get 14 reviews. That's good enough, right? So click the liddle button down there, yeah, that one, and review! 


	11. In which everybody rests

"Day one: Our heroes urge their horses onward across the barren plains, trying desperately to keep smiles on their faces. But truth is, they aren't as happy as they might seem. Our heroes and heroettes are really hungry, thirst and tired. They're sweaty. They don't smell good. But because they love their country they press onward. Onward toward the mountains of-"  
  
"Meron, SHUT UP!" Bellowed Maddy, as she steered her horse over to Meron's so that she could kick him in the leg. "We're fine without your commentary!  
  
"I can tell my wonderful skills are not appreciated here!" Said Meron huffily.  
  
"They may be appreciated," replied Kathryn. "But they certainly aren't wanted!" Meron stuck out his tongue in reply.  
  
"Are you going to let her diss you like that?" Asked Gregory.  
  
"Show her what you got!" Challenged Marc.  
  
"What have I got?" Asked Meron.  
  
"Jack squat." Said Kate. "And that's all you'll ever have!"  
  
"Ooooh!" Said Liney, high-fiving Kate, and just barely managing to not fall off her horse as she did so. "Good one!"  
  
"Yeah!" Said Reganas, struggling to control her large warhorse.  
  
"That's two for the girls and nothing for the guys." Said Dom. "Come on boys! You're making us look bad!"  
  
"Yeah! Where's you 'proud to be a guy' spirit?" Asked Cleon.  
  
"Dead." Said Peter. "Dead and gone.  
  
Samkin nodded. "The girls are taking over."  
  
"Well at least try!" Said Caprice. "It's boring if it's completely one- sided!"  
  
Two horses galloping up to the group caused a slight distraction. On the horses were Amy and Kaytee.  
  
"Hi guys!' Said Maria.  
  
"What's cookin'?" Said Anne Marie.  
  
Krizsta groaned. "Please don't mention anything that has to do with food, or cooking, or water or sleep or ANYTHING like that! I'm just so hungry and thirsty and sleepy!"  
  
"Now I am too!" Said Kaitlin, un-happily. "Thanks ever so much for bringing it up!"  
  
Rosefyre's stomach rumbled. "Apparently, I'm hungry, too!"  
  
"That, or a storm is rolling in," said Kate.  
  
  
  
"Well, you're in luck," said Amy.  
  
"Yup. Today must be your lucky day," stated Kaytee.  
  
"Yey!" Yelled Maddy. "We've won something!"   
  
"No, kumquat!" Said Olivia. "They brought food!"  
  
"My gods, you all." Said Alanna exasperatedly. "We've only been riding for a few hours."  
  
"And you had breakfast right before we left!" George pointed out, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Are you attempting to make some sort of point?" Asked Reganas.  
  
Kel sighed. "What they're saying is that you don't get food until nightfall. Who knows how long it could take to get to the mountains?"  
  
"But I'm hungry!" Cried Neal. "Who was the moron who forgot about food?"  
  
"We can always buy food from a town or hunt for game." Said Numair.  
  
"Um, hello?" Said Lady Light. "Has it occurred to you that we're in the middle of a thrice-blasted gods damned DESERT!"  
  
"Oh, yeah," Said Numair. "I guess I forgot."  
  
"And you know how much I hate killing animals for their meat, Numy." Said Daine. At this, a few of the horses shifted uncomfortably.  
  
  
  
"Numy?" Cackled Kathryn. "NUMY?" She then burst into hysterical fits of giggles.  
  
"That was stupid." Raoul murmured to Buri.  
  
"Uh-huh. She's in for trouble now." Buri whispered back.  
  
Suddenly, Kathryn's large horse lurched its head forward, completely dislodging Kathryn's feet from the stirrups and almost throwing her from the saddle.   
  
"Hrmph." Grunted Kathryn.  
  
"Can we count that as an insult to the girls?" Asked Samkin.  
  
"No!" Said Krizsta. "You have to insult us. And it can't be something stupid like, 'you're ugly.'"  
  
Peter shut his mouth. "You stole my insult." He said.  
  
"THAT was your big diss?" Asked Diana in disbelief. "You're kidding me!"  
  
"Of course!" Said Gregory. "Of course he was kidding!" Gregory laughed nervously.  
  
"Completely postponing this "wonderful" conversation, do you think we could stop and give the horses a rest?" Asked Maria. "They're telling me that they're tired."  
  
"Yes!" Said Anne Marie. "Let's stop! I'm getting calluses on my ass."  
  
Daine laughed. "Yes, let's stop. While you all are resting, I'll fly around as an eagle and see how much farther. Liney, Maria, do either of you want to come?"  
  
"I will!" Said Liney. "That sounds fun! What do I do?"  
  
"Do you want to come, Maria?" Asked Daine.  
  
"No, thanks." Said Maria. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather dig a big hole in the sand and maybe bury someone. Then maybe talk to some lizards."  
  
"Suit yourself." Said Daine. She then explained to Liney how to call an animal and ask to share their mind and body. After a few minutes, Liney, inside an eagle named the Mighty Megraw, and Daine had left.  
  
"Let's bring Liney's body into the shade." Said Numair. "We don't want her to get all sunburned."  
  
Reganas easily picked up Liney and carefully carried her over to the shade where the rest of the girls, boys and adults were sitting.  
  
"What do we do now?" Asked Amy.  
  
"Can we eat?" Asked Rosefyre. "I'm really, REALLY hungry!"  
  
"Me too!" Groaned Lady Light. "I could do with a hamburger right now." Said Kate.  
  
"Anybody wanna help bury me?" Asked Maddy, happily helping Maria scoop sand over her arms and legs.  
  
"It's not going to work, Mads." Said Meron. "You need water for the sand to stick together."  
  
"Well, maybe if you spit on it..." Said Maddy.  
  
"EWWWW!" Cried Diana and Kaitlin in perfect unison.  
  
Maria and Maddy were not wavered by Meron's statement and continued to pour sand onto Maddy's appendages. Meron ruffled Maddy's hair fondly. Maddy stuck out her tongue at him and succeeded in getting sand in her mouth.  
  
"Ptoo!" She spat.  
  
"No, you don't need to spit on it!" Said Maria angrily. "We're doing fine without water on it!"  
  
"These children are not mentally stable!" Cried Raoul.  
  
"But you gotta love them anyway." Said Neal.  
  
"You love us?" Exclaimed Kate. "He loves us! Meaning me! Oh joy! Oh glory! Oh rapture!"  
  
"You have some unresolved issues, don't you?" Asked Peter.  
  
"No, I don't, boy." Said Kate defensively.  
  
"Yes you do, girl." Said Peter.  
  
"Do not!"  
  
"Do too!"  
  
"Do not!"  
  
"Do not!"  
  
"Do too!"  
  
"Hahaha! I win!" Said Peter, triumphantly. "See you said 'do too!'"  
  
"Imbecile." Muttered Kate.  
  
"Gods! You guys are strange!" Said Caprice.  
  
"Are not!" Said Peter and Kate together.  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"No! Not again!" Yelled Numair. "Please no!" He then attempted to put a silencing spell on the two of them, failed because of the magic drainage, and scowled. They got the idea, though.  
  
At that moment Daine and Liney returned. Liney returned to her body and said goodbye to Mighty Megraw.   
  
"We discovered that the mountains are only about three miles away and the whole area is concealed by magic --" said Liney.  
  
"-- Which must mean that once you enter the area your magic should return." Finished Daine.  
  
"That's good." Said Alanna. "We may need all of the help we can get."  
  
~*~  
  
Hm, anything could happen now, right? Right? I asked you a question! ARG! Answer me fool! Hee, hee, just kidding! Let me know what you think! And take my Tortall Quiz at: http://www.coolquiz.com/myquiz/myquiz.asp?quiznum=1293629139. It's fun! I promise! Oh and watch the movie Breaking Up With Maggie Moore, my drama teacher made it, which is slightly odd, but, you know, WHO CARES?   
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight 


	12. In which there are no cheerios, much to ...

"That's good," said Alanna. "We may need all the help we can get."  
  
"You already said that." Said Diana.  
  
"That was last...minute?" Said Alanna hopefully.  
  
"Whatever." Said Caprice.  
  
"If we can't eat, can we at least get a move on?" Asked Rosefyre, impatiently. "I want to get to the Southern Wall Mountains before I grow a beard!"  
  
"Yes, let's go." Said Cleon, playing with his red curls. "Are all the horses ready?"  
  
"Are all of you ready?" Maria asked the horses, out loud. She relayed their reply,"They say that they've rested enough, but if we ride for more than an hour, they'll have to rest again."  
  
Everyone located their horse and mounted. Daine gave the silent order for all of the horses to go and, they were off.  
  
After about twenty minutes on the road, Numair stopped his mount, causing Caprice and her horse to crash into him.  
  
"What?" Asked Caprice, slightly angry that she had to stop. "I was just getting into the rhythm!"  
  
"I can feel the magic hovering around this spot." Said Numair. "That must mean we can't be far."  
  
"CHEERIO!" Yelled Maddy as she dived off her horse.  
  
"Maddy, you moron!" Liney whispered to Maddy. "What are you doing? Cheerios don't exist here, remember?" She then dismounted wondering about how she could make Maddy shut up.  
  
"What's this about a cheerio?" Asked Gregory, also dismounting. "Wait- What's a cheerio?"  
  
Maddy pulled on a tan ring that completely blended into the sand. Suddenly the air in front of them rippled and a huge castle appeared.  
  
"That was interesting." Said Diana, hyperventilating a little.  
  
"Damn!" Yelled Maddy. "It wasn't a cheerio. Hey! What's this castle doing here?"  
  
Liney had jumped into Gregory's arms out of shock. She and Gregory looked at each other, both of them blushing to the color of a sunburned radish. After a couple of minutes Liney coughed nervously. "You can put me down now." She muttered.  
  
Gregory turned even redder, but carefully set her down on her feet. "Sorry," he murmured.  
  
"Can you two stop flirting so we can go?" Said Alanna.  
  
Liney and Gregory looked at each other and blushed again. Liney finally looked away and mounted her horse, Gregory followed suit.  
  
"I'll race all of you!" Yelled Maddy, cackling.  
  
"NO! No more races!" Exclaimed Meron. "None!  
  
"Um, just so all of you know, if we keep standing here, somebody's bound to see us." Said Lady Light. "And I don't think they'll welcome us."  
  
"What's this about a welcoming party?" Asked Kate.  
  
"Welcoming party?" Asked Peter. "Hot dog!"  
  
"Yum." Said Kathryn. "Hot dogs."  
  
"I'm confused." Said Raoul.  
  
"I'm not mentally stable!" Maddy shouted, happily.  
  
"You don't need to tell us." Muttered Krizsta to Olivia as Olivia sniggered uncontrollably.  
  
Everyone was slightly distracted as Dom fell off his horse.  
  
"I win!" Yelled Neal.  
  
"We were having a breath-holding contest." Explained Dom, gasping.  
  
"How did I get caught up in this moron pit again?" Kel said to herself.  
  
"Can we go?" Asked George. "Daine, could you..."  
  
All of a sudden, all of the horses started to move again. Kaitlin, who had been sitting sidesaddle, nearly fell off. They continued to walk until they had gone about a mile past the castle where there was a small forest and a brook.  
  
"I think we should stop here." Said Buri. "All DISMOUNT!"  
  
Everybody slipped off of their horses. Anne Marie fell into the brook and got all muddy. "Crap," she said. "Now I'm gonna be dirty all night."  
  
"Let's set up the tents here." Said Alanna. "Boys on this side of the brook and girls on the other. Four to a tent max!"  
  
Maddy grabbed a tent. "Who wants to be in my tent?" She yelled. Everyone seemed to take a step back.  
  
In the end, the tent groups were as follows:  
  
Girls tent one: Maddy, Kate, and Liney.  
  
Girls tent two: Caprice, Diana, and Reganas.  
  
Girls tent three: Kathryn, Rosefyre, and Amy.  
  
Girls tent four: Kaytee, Lady Light, and Maria.  
  
Girls tent five: Olivia, Anne Marie, Kaitlin, and Krizsta.  
  
Women tent one: Alanna, and Buri.  
  
Women tent two: Kel, and Daine.  
  
Boys tent one: Samkin, Gregory, and Marc.  
  
Boys tent two: Peter, and Meron.  
  
Men tent one: George, Cleon, and Dom.  
  
Men tent two: Numair, Raoul, and Neal.  
  
The girls jumped over the brook with their tents and began to set them up. Maddy and Liney had a lot of fun trying to stab each other with the tent stakes, but Kel soon took the stakes and hammered them into the ground.  
  
"Fine!" Said Liney. "Ruin our fun, why don't you?"  
  
"I believe she already did!" Said Kate, laughing.  
  
Amy walked by carrying Reganas. "She fell asleep." Explained Amy.  
  
"Oh," said Kel. "Have you finished setting up your tent? Do you want my help with the stakes? I have the hammer, you know."  
  
Maddy and Liney shook their heads frantically behind Kel's back. "We're fine." Said Amy. "If you wanted to carry Reganas for me..."  
  
"No, I have to carry the hammer." Said Kel, proudly. "In case anybody needs help. What tent are you two in, maybe I can get Dom to carry her or something."  
  
"I'm in three." Said Amy. "But I suggest we take Reganas to her tent. She's in tent number two."  
  
As Kathryn walked by, going back to her tent from the stream, she began to giggle hysterically. "Number two!" Kathryn then flopped over and started rolling around on the ground laughing insanely.  
  
"Note to self: Don't touch the water." Kaitlin whispered to herself.  
  
Neal walked by and grabbed the hammer from Kel. "I got the hammer! I got the hammer!" He said in a singsong voice.  
  
Kel gave a cry like a wounded moose and dove at Neal, who danced out of her reach. "Catch me if you can!" Cackled Neal as he ran off. Kel jumped up and hurried after him, muttering something to herself in Yamani.  
  
"That wasn't strange." Said Reganas, waking up and yawning.  
  
"Good," said Amy. "You're up."  
  
"Just barely." Said Reganas.  
  
"And that's all you'll ever be!" Said Marc. "I win! I win! That was a good diss right?"  
  
"Are you kidding me?" Asked Kaytee. "It doesn't make any sense!"  
  
"You're point is..." Began Marc.  
  
"That you're a moron." Said Caprice.  
  
Marc stormed off to his side of the brook just as Alanna yelled. "BED!"  
  
"Yes," said Buri. "We're going to have to wake up before dawn tomorrow to work on weapons training for all of you. So I want you all to be rested and alert!"  
  
"Yes ma'am!" Said Olivia, saluting.  
  
"Never do that again." Said Buri.  
  
"Yes ma'am!" Said Olivia, saluting, again.  
  
Everybody crawled into his or her tent, Numair with some difficulty, as he was at least 2 inches taller than his tent was long. After a few minutes Samkin yelled something. "I forgot to brush my teeth!" He said, louder.  
  
"SHUT UP!" Yelled almost everybody.  
  
"Fine, when I smell like onions or something tomorrow, it's your fault." He retorted.  
  
"Ewww, onion breath." Said Kaytee.  
  
"NEXT PERSON WHO TALKS WILL HAVE ME TO DEAL WITH!" Yelled Kel.  
  
"And me!" Said Cleon.  
  
"I'll deal with you, Cleon!" Said Maddy loudly. After that there was the dull thud of Maddy being hit with two different pillows.  
  
"GO...TO...BED!" Roared Raoul.  
  
"Spoilsport." Muttered Anne Marie.  
  
Everyone quieted down and eventually fell asleep. Tomorrows going to be a long day. Thought Alanna, as her eyes closed in sleep.  
  
~*~  
  
Another chapter! Yey! Aren't you just extremely pleased with me? Well, you should be. *Grins* If you're wondering how much longer this story will go...I dunno. Probably about five more chapters, at most. Take my "cool quiz" It's at: http://www.coolquiz.com/myquiz/myquiz.asp?quiznum=1293634965 it's harder than the other one I made. Let me know what you think of the story!  
  
Luv From,  
  
LadyKnight 


	13. In which a bug is swallowed

"UP!" Yelled Buri, shattering everybody out of pleasant dreams and comfortable sleeping positions.  
  
"I don't want to go to school today, mother." Muttered Lady Light, who was still pretty much asleep.  
  
Maddy popped out of her tent and began to run around in circles, chattering like chipmunk. She only stopped when Kate stumbled out of their tent and whacked her on the head with a pillow.  
  
"You have got to be the weirdest little gal, EVER, Maddy." Said Anne Marie.  
  
"Nifty!" Said Maddy happily, jumping from one side of the brook to the other.  
  
"Are we going to start weapons training now?" Asked Caprice.  
  
"Could everybody shut up?" Said Krizsta. "It's not even light up!"  
  
"Kablooey!" Said Maddy.  
  
"Yes, you are going to start weapons training today." Said Alanna. "As soon as everybody wakes up."  
  
There was a scramble to throw off sleeping bags and line up in front of Alanna.  
  
"Good." Said Buri. "Last night, Alanna and I thought about which of you would be best at certain types of fighting."  
  
"Drum roll, please!" Said Kaytee.  
  
"The archers will be learning with me and Daine." Said Dom. "And they are; Kate, Rosefyre, and Peter. If you three would come over here and grab bows and quivers?"  
  
"Yippee!" Said Kate grabbing a bow and a quiver.  
  
"Is it a good idea to trust Kate with pointy objects?" Asked Peter, shoving Kate's shoulder in a playful way.  
  
"Probably not," said Daine. "But we are anyway! Follow me, please." She and Dom then led the three teenagers toward the forest.  
  
"The following will be swordfighters." Said Alanna. "They will work with me. They are Diana, Maria, Kaitlin, and Anne Marie." She said, reading off of a list that was handed to her by Buri.  
  
Maria giggled evilly. "Swordie." She said.  
  
"Um, right." Said Alanna, gabbing six swords. "If you'll follow me?" She and Kel led the four girls to a sort of island in the middle of the brook.  
  
"Krizsta, Reganas, and Samkin will be doing spears with me and Buri." Said Raoul.  
  
"Oooh!" Exclaimed Reganas. "Can I poke somebody with a spear?"  
  
"No." Said Buri.  
  
"OK then!" Said Reganas.  
  
"Kathryn and Marc will be doing wrestling and Shang fighting with me." Said George.  
  
"I have to wrestle with a boy?" Asked Kathryn.  
  
"I have to wrestle with a girl?" Asked Marc.  
  
"Oh well!" They said in unison and followed George off toward the woods.  
  
"I can teach a few people how to use a slingshot." Said Amy.  
  
"I'll learn!" Said Olivia, raising her hand and waving it wildly above her head.  
  
"Make the spasms stop!" Yelled Caprice, yanking Olivia's arm down. "Oh, and I guess I'll learn too."  
  
"And me!" Said Lady Light. "I actually know how to use a slingshot, but I'd like to get better, as I'm not very good."  
  
"I warn you, I'm not exactly the best teacher." Said Amy.  
  
"I'll help you teach!" Said Kaytee.  
  
"Nifty!" Said Amy. "Could you guys come over here?" Amy grabbed a bunch of slingshots and walked over toward a solitary bush over by a fallen tree. The girls followed her, looking something like ducklings following the mother duck.  
  
"Wait!" Said Gregory. "What are we doing?"  
  
"Dad?" Asked Meron. "What are you teaching us?"  
  
"Not really anything." Said Cleon. "Everyone else sorta voted me the worst teacher because I didn't really "shine" in any particular fighting art. So I'm going to teach you all how to be quiet and enter the castle. That way, maybe you can spy?"  
  
"SPY SPY SPY SPY SPY SPY SPY SPY SPY SPY!" Yelled Maddy. "I can spy!"  
  
"Me too!" Said Liney, running around in circles. "I'm a perfect spy."  
  
"Boys, will you restrain these slightly insane girls?" Asked Cleon. Meron tackled Maddy and held her to the ground. Gregory grabbed onto both of Caroline's shoulders and held her still.  
  
"Thanks." Said Cleon.  
  
"Wait," said Liney. "What are Neal and Numair teaching?"  
  
"Nothing." Said Cleon. "They are going to come up with a strategy. Now if you'll follow me over here?" He walked over to a small field near where Dom and Daine's group were practicing archery.  
  
"Hi guys!" Yelled Kate. "How ar-" At that second she leaned over and threw up.  
  
"Oh my gods!" Said Cleon rushing over. Maddy, Meron, Liney, and Gregory followed. Soon everyone was circled around Kate.  
  
"What happened?" Asked Rosefyre, sounding extremely concerned, which she was, of course.  
  
"Bug...flew into...my mouth." Said Kate, gasping. "Bleghu! That was extremely nasty!"  
  
"Are you OK?" Asked Krizsta.  
  
"A bug just flew into my mouth." Said Kate. "Does that sound like I'm OK to you?"  
  
"Not really." Said Kaitlin.  
  
"Are you going to live?" Asked Alanna, sarcastically. "Because if you can still manage to walk could you continue archery training, if you don't mind!"  
  
"Somebody's in a bossy mood today." Said Diana, referring to Alanna.  
  
"HIKE!" Screamed Maddy and she tackled Kathryn.  
  
"Help!" Screamed Kathryn.  
  
"I remember screaming that." Said Cleon, thoughtfully. "Maddy's got quite a grip, doesn't she?"  
  
Numair walked forward and pried Maddy off of Kathryn. "What was all that about, now?" He asked.  
  
"What?" Asked Maddy. "I have to have a reason to yell hike and tackle somebody?"  
  
"Well, just normally." Said Maria.  
  
"But you aren't normal are you now?" Asked Olivia.  
  
"Damn right!" Said Liney. "And we is proud of it too!"  
  
"It's are." Said Reganas. "Not is, are."  
  
"I'm confused." Said Kaytee. "There are too many ises and ares."  
  
"ARE WE GOING TO GO BACK TO TRAINING OR WHAT?" Yelled Rosefyre.  
  
"Yes, yes, of course." Said Alanna. "Everybody go back to what you were doing before Kate swallowed that bug."  
  
"Haha!" Said Samkin. "Kate is going to have bug breath!"  
  
"Shut up, onion boy." Said Kate.  
  
"Everyone slowly walked toward where they were before to continue to train for when they needed to attack the castle of evil."  
  
"We told you no more narrating Meron!" Yelled Anne Marie.  
  
"Sorry." Said Meron.  
  
~*~  
  
Okey dokey people. Sorry that chapter was kind of short. It was sort of a bridging chapter. Also I'm sorry to people who want more lines. I try to give everyone an even amount of lines, but it's hard with fourteen people. Plus guys. Plus characters that are actually in the books *pauses for a moment to swoon over Cleon*. Please click the little blue-grey button and REVIEW!! *Mumbles something about corn muffins*  
  
Luv from, LadyKnight  
  
P.S. Kate-Sorry I didn't wait for you to proofread it. I just couldn't wait to put this up...and waiting sucks. Major.  
  
P.P.S. Reganas, I just realized that I've been spelling your name wrong. It's Raganas, right? Well is it OK if I just call you Reganas? Cuz, now I'm used to it, and all. *Apologetic grins*  
  
P.P.P.S. *Runs around in circles with her arms outstretched like wings yelling: I'm an aeroplane! I'm and aeroplane!* I'm mentally stable, why do you ask? 


	14. In which a reference to cattle is made

Prologue: I'm too lazy to actually write what happens while everybody's learning everything, so you can just pretend that I did. OK? Good. The point that we're at now is we're all trained and we understand what we've learned. About four days have past. Got it? OK, I'll begin!  
  
~*~  
  
Alanna stood up and faced everybody. "I believe that all of you have learned enough!" She said. "It is time for us to go and reclaim our magic! I'm not sure but once you walk within a certain distance of the castle you MAY regain your magic. We DO NOT want you to fight with your magic though! Because whatever magic you DO have, they have at least four times more! Also, those of you with wild magic may want to call the animals out of the castle, as we may have to set it on fire."  
  
"We're ready!" Said Samkin.  
  
"Just say the word and we're there!" Exclaimed Caprice.  
  
Maddy sniffed the air and began to run around in circles. Even though she had been trained to spy, she had not become any more mentally stable. "I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready-edy-edy-edy, READY!"  
  
"OK everyone! Let's go kick some evil magic-stealing ass!" Said Liney, extremely enthusiastically.  
  
As everyone marched along they picked up a song. "For a long time we've been marching off to battle!" Sang everyone.  
  
"In a thundering herd we feel a lot like cattle." Said Raganas.  
  
"Like the pounding drums, our aching bums aren't easy to ignore!" Sang Maria and Diana in unison.  
  
"HEY! Think of instead, a girl worth fighting for!" Sang Meron, in a high, falsetto voice.  
  
"What am I?" Asked Maddy. "Diced troll food, I suppose."  
  
"On the contrary, love, you are fillet-minion!" Said Meron, hopelessly attempting to be romantic.  
  
"Shut up so we can finish our song you two!" Said Kathryn.  
  
"Bet the local girls though you were quite a charmer." Sang Olivia to Dom.  
  
"And I'll bet the ladies love a man in armor!" Sang Gregory, happily, as if he just realized it. Liney glared at him and he whistled innocently.  
  
"You can guess what we have missed the most since we went off to fight!" Sang Numair, Dom, Raoul, Neal and Cleon.  
  
"Ew!" Said Anne Marie.  
  
"What?" Asked Kaitlin.  
  
Kate raised her eyebrows and coughed. "You know."  
  
"NASTY!" Said Kaitlin.  
  
"What do we want?" Sang all the guys.  
  
"How should we know what fathoms a male's mind?" Asked Amy.  
  
"I could make a guess!" Said Rosefyre. She then had hysterical fits of giggles. She flopped down onto the ground and continued to laugh. She had to drink about four glasses of water before she actually calmed down a little.  
  
Kel sighed. "Can we please sing something else? If we keep singing this all of the men are bound to get all cocky."  
  
"Why-OH!" Said Kaytee. Then she giggled like a schoolgirl.  
  
"Never mind." Said Buri. "We're there." Buri stopped and stared up at the castle.  
  
"It looks even bigger when you're closer up." Said Krizsta.  
  
"Well," said Lady Light. Then she broke out into song, "let's get down to business!"  
  
"To defeat the magic-sucking dudes!" Sang Kate.  
  
"Are we going to stand here?" Sang Alanna.  
  
"Or are we going to...eat foods?" Sang Olivia hopefully. "Does that make any sense? At all?"  
  
"No," said Anne Marie. "But it rhymes."  
  
"Please no more singing." Yelled Raganas, covering her ears. "I think I may go insane."  
  
"Like me!" Yelled Maddy, happily. She then bounced up and down and started to chant: "Like me! Like me! Like me! Like me! Like me! Like me! Like me! Like me! Like me! Like me!"  
  
Buri leaned over and whispered to Alanna. "Tell me once again why SHE'S one of our spies?"  
  
"I haven't the slightest idea." Muttered Alanna.  
  
Meron walked over and put two restraining hands on Maddy's shoulders. "Yes, like you." He said. "Now let's have a quiet contest. I bet I win!"  
  
"NO ME!" Yelled Maddy.  
  
"Readysetgo!" Said Amy quickly. Maddy's mouth snapped shut and Meron put one of his hands over his.  
  
"Archers, I want you to line up here." Said Daine, pointing to a log that was about sixty yards from the castle. "Kneel, and nock your arrows."  
  
"You may run out of arrows during the course of the battle." Said Dom. "So if you run out, come to me."  
  
Kate, Peter and Rosefyre walked over to the log and knelt down. Peter pulled out an arrow and began to sharpen with a whetstone. Rosefyre tested her bowstring's tightness. Kate ran the plumed part of one of her arrows across her nose.  
  
"The same goes for the slingshots." Said Amy.  
  
"Don't shoot up at the castle walls, the stone wont make it." Said Kaytee. "Wait until the soldiers come out of the gates."  
  
"And aim for between the eyes." Said Amy.  
  
Olivia, Caprice and Lady Light raced to the log. Olivia tripped and fell, but got up immediately and ran the rest of the way to the log. They all spent some time looking for rocks around the log.  
  
"Shang fighters, you may not be needed, but just incase the soldiers get behind the log, we need you." Said George. "I don't want you to even move until they, if they do, get behind the log."  
  
"So where should we go?" Asked Marc.  
  
"He's going to tell us stupid!" Said Kathryn.  
  
"Well you don't have to be rude about it!" Said Marc. And then he added, as an afterthought, "BODY SLAM!"  
  
Kathryn screamed and covered her head. Then she remembered something. "Hey pal-I'm stronger than you."  
  
It was Marc's turn to scream. Kathryn dived on him and pulled him to the ground. Anne Marie slapped the ground three times and yelled, "The winner!"  
  
"You four," said Cleon, pointing to Gregory, Liney, Maddy, and Meron, "Will go up to the wall and when the doors open, sneak in, hopefully un-noticed."  
  
"Damn, that's going to be hard." Said Gregory.  
  
"You can say that again." Said Liney.  
  
"I don't want to!" Said Gregory.  
  
"It a figure of speech nimwad." Said Liney. She then turned to Maddy who was looking at Gregory skeptically. "Well, he's cute right? And it's not like YOU'RE one to talk."  
  
"Dance, fools!" Said Maddy, gleefully.  
  
Meron yelled in triumph. "I win!" He yelled. "That means you lose!"  
  
"Wait, what did I lose?" Asked Maddy.  
  
"I don't remember, but you're bound to have lost something." Said Meron, shrugging.  
  
"I need you to get into your places now!" Said Cleon, loudly. "Go to the wall! And don't make a single sound!"  
  
Gregory, Liney, Maddy and Meron crept over to the wall debating the whole way. At one point Gregory stuck out his leg and tripped Liney, causing her to go into fiery rage and tackle him.  
  
"Glad that's over." Muttered Krizsta.  
  
"Too right." Said Samkin. "Maddy could yell happily all day and Meron could argue with her the whole time."  
  
"It's a cute kind of love." Said Kel.  
  
"Love?" Asked Diana, almost laughing. "Those two could tear each other's spleens out and not stop to apologize!"  
  
"Anyway," started Alanna. "Will the swordfighters follow me and Kel? You all will be stationed right where the Shang fighters are."  
  
"Nifty!" Said Maria.  
  
"HI KATHRYN AND MARC!" Yelled Anne Marie. "WE'RE GOING TO BE STATIONED NEXT TO YOU!"  
  
"Shut up!" Said Alanna. "I bet they heard that."  
  
"Quickly! Spears!" Said Raoul, hurriedly. "I want you up next to the archers."  
  
"Make sure you don't get in their way!" Said Buri. "I don't want to hear that one of our spearmen, or spearwomen, ahs been shot by one of our own archers!"  
  
"We'll be careful." Promised Samkin as he hurried off.  
  
"I'll watch out for them!" Said Raganas, running toward the log.  
  
"No I will!" Yelled Krizsta. "I'm oldest!"  
  
Numair walked forward, talking to Neal. "Perfect. Everyone's right where they should be."  
  
"I hope that Daine got all of the animals out of the castle." Said Neal.  
  
Just as Neal said that an arrow whizzed by his head, grazing his ear. "We've been sighted!" He yelled. "Is everybody ready for battle?"  
  
"Yes!" Was the unanimous reply, as everyone got ready for their assigned task.  
  
"Then let's do this right!" Yelled Numair. "Tortall for the victory!"  
  
~*~  
  
Oh yeah! That's the fourteenth chapter. Am I good or what? *Mumbles are heard from the background* Shut up, Cleon, nobody asked you. *More mumbles* One more word and you're in for it buster! Any way please review and tell me what you think! Also read my new story, It's Picture Day in Tortall! It's what would happen if all of the Tortallans were getting their pictures taken. I'm assuming the photographer will need serious mental therapy when he's finished.  
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight  
  
P.S. Eve Eastborne/Galadrial Greenleaf yes, you are the Amy. Good for you. *Wild applause* 


	15. In which there is an injury and no strip...

"Victory for Tortall!" Chorused everyone in almost perfect unison. That is, everyone except for the two boys and the two girls who were standing stock still against the wall, hoping not to be seen.  
  
Arrows then began to pour down onto the Tortallans like raindrops. The twanging of bowstrings could be heard from behind the log as well.  
  
"Crap!" Yelled Rosefyre. "I'm out of arrows!"  
  
"Already?" Asked Kate. "We just started."  
  
"Well, I only got three to begin with." Rosefyre said defensively. She slowly stood up and walked over to Dom to get some more.  
  
"No!" Screamed Alanna. "Stay flat to the ground! You have to stay flat to the grou-" She was cut off as a loud 'OUCH' was heard from Rosefyre. Rosefyre had been hit in the shoulder by a large arrow.  
  
"Keep firing, archers!" Ordered Buri. "She'll be fine."  
  
Kel examined Rosefyre's shoulder carefully. "Longbow," she said shortly. "She should be fine, though it may take her some time before her shoulder is back to normal." Kel looked down at Rosefyre and spoke. "Sorry, but I'm afraid it looks like you won't be doing anymore fighting today."  
  
Rosefyre groaned. "It hurts."  
  
Numair strode over happily. "I've regained almost all of my Gift!" He then looked down and saw Rosefyre lying on the ground. His face immediately fell. "Oh my gods. What happened here?"  
  
"Arrow, right into my shoulder." Said Rosefyre through clenched teeth as tears of pain and agony streamed down her cheeks.  
  
"I can try to fix you up," said Numair, "I'm not exactly sure it will work though." Rosefyre nodded and Numair led her back into the woods where they were safe from more raining arrows.  
  
"They're coming outside!" Yelled Caprice.  
  
Caprice was right. The old front door had creaked open and had been propped open with a pole. Soldiers were streaming quickly and silently from it. Nobody noticed as four teenagers crept inside.  
  
There was a huge roar as the thirty-some warriors attacked the teenagers and their leaders. Metal clashed on metal. There were twangs of bows and swishes of stones flying through the air. Several soldiers went down, small stones lodged tightly between their eyes.  
  
Krizsta, Reganas, Samkin and Raoul rode into the mess on horses that Daine had called from the stables. They held their spears high jabbing with immense force at anyone who came within a few feet of them.  
  
Diana, Maria, Kaitlin, Anne Marie, Kel and Alanna had formed a sort of ring of steel. They whirled around with their swords, catching anyone who was foolish enough to come into their range. The strikes would him them with a slash or blow near their stomach. Usually the wounds wouldn't kill the person but they would be easy to pick off by one of the spearspeople or the slingshots.  
  
Kathryn and Marc waited patiently for the soldiers to get near the log. Actually they weren't patient at all. George almost had to tie them to a tree to get them to stop from going out into the battlefield.  
  
"This is boring!" Said Kathryn.  
  
"I want to fight somebody!" Pouted Marc. "And I want to do it now!"  
  
"You sound like you're three years old!" Said Kathryn.  
  
Marc stuck out his tongue at her. "Bring it on!"  
  
George sighed. "Don't make me belt you two to that tree," George said sternly, "because I will."  
  
Just then there was a loud yell of triumph from Raganas. "I think I'm getting my magic back!" She shouted over the sounds of fighting. "As soon as I killed that little bald man there I felt it returning to me! You know, it feels really cool!"  
  
Numair emerged from the forest. "Come here!" He yelled back to her. "I want to see if you still can use your war magic!"  
  
"Yeah!" Said Raganas. "I'm going to get to blow somebody up!" She steered her horse over to the forest, waving toodle-loo to Raoul, Samkin and Krizsta, as if she were only leaving a tea party.  
  
"I'm running out of stones!" Said Lady Light.  
  
"I'm almost out!" Said Caprice.  
  
"I am out!" Said Olivia, unhappily.  
  
"Kaytee and I will go look for some more stones." Said Amy.  
  
"I'll come, too," said Olivia. "I am completely out of stones and I don't have anything better to do."  
  
"Will you grab some arrows for us on your way back?" Asked Peter. "We only have a couple left and they'll probably run out fast."  
  
"Sure." Said Kaytee. "We'll be back soon so don't get worried."  
  
"We won't!" Said Lady Light as the three girls ran off in search of round, smooth pebbles, perfect for shooting down enemy warriors.  
  
Neal smacked his head randomly and groaned. "I just realized something." He said. "None of the spies have weapons."  
  
Cleon blinked. "But I told them to grab something."  
  
"No you didn't." Said Daine.  
  
"Oh, I must have imagined it." Said Cleon. "Well they should have used common sense!"  
  
"Well those four aren't really the sanest they come are they now?" Asked Dom, shaking his head sadly.  
  
"I know!" Said George, snapping his fingers in triumph. "Marc and Kathryn could take daggers to them!"  
  
"What?" Asked everyone around him.  
  
"Well yeah!" Said George. "Daggers are ideal. They're small enough so that one person can carry several and they aren't that hard to use, unless you want to do fancy stuff, but I doubt that will be seriously needed."  
  
"Well, I'm up to it!" Said Marc. "I'm bored."  
  
"Are you OK with going in there?" Asked Neal to Kathryn.  
  
Kathryn nodded. "I don't really want to but I will if I have to."  
  
Rosefyre had been completely silent this whole time and nobody even really knew that she was there. "They have weapons." She said.  
  
"Pardon?" Asked Numair.  
  
"They have weapons." Repeated Rosefyre. "Meron has a dagger in his boot, Gregory has a slingshot in his belt, Liney has a dagger in her belt and Maddy has an arrow head concealed in her sleeve."  
  
"How do you know?" Asked Marc.  
  
"She has the Sight." Said Numair. "She's used it, I'm sure of it."  
  
"We can trust her then?" Asked Daine.  
  
"Definitely." Said Numair, nodding. "She cannot be wrong if she's used it correctly. And I believe that she has."  
  
"How can we be sure?" Asked Buri.  
  
"We're just going to have to trust her." Said Kaytee, walking by with an armful of pebbles and small rocks.  
  
"Trust who with what?" Asked Olivia walking by, still picking up rocks and placing them in her already bulging pockets. "I hope you didn't give anything important to Maddy because she'll lose it, it's happened. That was the last time I'll ever trust her with my Pedigree Pony!"  
  
"Rosefyre told us that our spies have weapons." Said George. "And what's a Pedigree Pony? Is it some sort of doll?"  
  
"Never mind that, it's not important right now." Said Olivia, wiping her eyes as if her Pedigree Pony had been very important to her. She then said, in answer to George's first comment, "Well, I think that they do. I know that Maddy has an arrowhead in her sleeve. I saw her put it in this morning before we started fighting!" Olivia then ran off, having spotted a very nice pebble.  
  
"Well then, she was telling the truth!" Said Kaytee, slightly astonished.  
  
"Yes of course I was." Said Rosefyre. "Do you honestly think I would lie at a time like this?"  
  
~*~  
  
While Kate and Peter were twanging away with their bows, Diana, Maria, Kaitlin, Kel and Alanna were slashing vigorously at the enemy, Krizsta, Samkin and Raoul were stabbing ruthlessly at people from on top of their horses, Raganas and Numair were trying to blast at people with their Gifts, Kathryn, Marc and several adults were arguing, Rosefyre was clutching her wounded shoulder, Caprice and Lady Light were whirling their slings, Olivia and Amy were looking for rocks, and Kaytee was bringing rocks and arrows back to the log, there were things going on inside the castle as well. *AN: Say that three times fast*  
  
"Ouch!" Said Gregory softly, hopping up and down on his left foot while clutching his right. "You just stepped on my foot."  
  
"Sorry." Muttered Meron.  
  
"It sure is quiet in here." Said Liney. And then she added with a joking tone, "Maybe I should strip tease or something!"  
  
"Yeah!" Said Gregory, looking excited.  
  
"I was kidding you perverted monkey child." Said Liney, looking severely abashed.  
  
"You fool." Meron muttered to Gregory, smacking him on the head. "Never let them know what we want!"  
  
"The pears are attacking." Said Maddy quietly, with all seriousness.  
  
"Don't you mean the fruits?" Asked Liney, still extremely embarrassed about what she had just said, and not realizing what she was saying. Meron and Gregory dissolved into hysterical, silent giggles. Liney caught on and giggled as well. Maddy stood still, not laughing at all.  
  
"I wasn't kidding." Said Maddy. At that exact moment a pear rolled down the hallway. Meron grabbed Maddy and pulled her into a small alcove in the wall. Gregory did the same with Liney.  
  
A couple of moments later a cook-well, he looked like a cook from the way he was dressed-came striding swiftly down the hall. "There you are." He said, seemingly to the pear. "You've gotten away from me for the last time, I'm going to need you for tonight's victory dinner!"  
  
"Victory dinner?" Asked Gregory. Liney reached up and put her hand over his mouth, moving slowly as so not to attract any attention.  
  
The cook picked up the pear and walked away, fortunately. Unfortunately, Maddy sneezed at that exact moment. The cook whirled around just as Gregory jumped out and shot a stone at him using his slingshot.  
  
"That was close." Said Meron. "Did you kill him?"  
  
"No," said Gregory. "He's not dead. He's only unconscious and he'll only be this way for a short while." Gregory leaned down and stared at the chef. "And I don't envy the headache he'll have when he wakes up." He added.  
  
Maddy stepped nimbly over the body of the chef to retrieve the pear. She happily chewed on it as they continued down the hallway.  
  
~*~  
  
Hope you liked that! I'm sorry I didn't update sooner! Word was down for like four days *gasp* the horror, the horror! And I'm afraid I might kill you off if you haven't reviewed more than twice! It's not fair that you get to stay if you don't even have the consideration to review every once in a while after you're in the story! *Blows nose on random handkerchief* Well please review! Thankies!  
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight 


	16. In which there is major pain

"We've almost gotten all of them!" Yelled Buri, happily. "Only a few more soldiers to go now!"  
  
Kate happily brought down one of them men with an arrow and Amy felled another man with a rock from her slingshot. When the rest of the men, there were only a few now, had seen two more of their compatriots fall, they turned around and ran, closing the large front doors tightly behind them.  
  
Most everyone let up a loud and silence piercing victory cry. Numair, Lady Light and Rosefyre stopped it at once.  
  
"I can sense the magic welling up behind their walls." Said Numair. "They're planning to use it all against us in hope that it will wipe us out completely."  
  
"What they don't know is that we are on to their plans." Said Lady Light.  
  
"Exactly," said Rosefyre. "If we can set up some sort of shield against their magic then they won't be able to lower our numbers at all!" She then started to sit up, but had to sit back down because of her injured arm.  
  
George counted the number of people to make sure everyone was there. "That's thirteen." He said. "Now, that can't be right. We had nineteen before!"  
  
"Did you count the four who went in to spy?" Asked Caprice.  
  
"But that would mean we should have fifteen!" Exclaimed Kaytee.  
  
"Wait, where are Marc and Kathryn?" Kaitlin pondered aloud.  
  
"That's strange," said George. "They were with me a little while ago."  
  
At that moment Marc came stumbling in with an arrow stuck in his shoulder and a gash on his forehead. He was carrying something. It was Kathryn.  
  
Kathryn was much worse off then Marc. She had gashes all over her hands and a large cut from her right shoulder to her left hip. She also had a large black and blue bruise on the top of her head.  
  
"Great Mithros above." Kel whispered in a shocked voice. "What happened?"  
  
Marc's voice quivered uncontrollably as he spoke. "We disobeyed you George. We went out to fight. We though it would be such a waste if all of our learned skills weren't put to good use. So we went out and attacked the soldiers, we should have known better but that didn't stop us. And now..." He stared down at Kathryn with a hopeless expression on his face and began to sob.  
  
Alanna looked at Kathryn very carefully. "She's not dead." She said slowly. "Not yet at least. The gash across her chest is shallow and the bruise doesn't seem to have messed up her brain, it may have wounded the bone though and she may have concussions. But after a few days of intense healing she will be good as new."  
  
"Are you sure?" Asked Marc, his lip quivering.  
  
"Yes." Said George. "We've seen worse."  
  
Marc lay Kathryn down on a spot of moss on the ground. He sat down next to her and sat still while Raoul pulled the arrow out of his shoulder.  
  
Kate gave a violent twitch and Peter put his hand on her shoulder. "I can feel the magic building around the castle." She said slowly. "They're going to shoot it at us in one giant beam, like a laser."  
  
George looked confused. "Laser?" He asked.  
  
"Never mind." Said Maria hurriedly.  
  
Neal ran his fingers through his hair. "What are we going to do?"  
  
"Aw!" Said Kate. "You're so cute when you're worried."  
  
Neal coughed embarrassedly. "Um, thank you."  
  
Diana screamed. "They're going to shoot!"  
  
"As soon as they let go of the magic I can build a shield." Said Numair. "I am adequately confident that my powers will be able to work quickly enough, but it's still risky."  
  
"What other choices do we have?" Asked Cleon. "I'm not sure if I like all this 'risky' business."  
  
"None." Said Numair. "We don't have a single other choice."  
  
"Well then I choose that one." Said Cleon. "I'd rather have a chance then no chance at all!"  
  
Olivia put a stupid expression on her face. "I'd rather have no chances!" She said stupidly and slowly.  
  
"Now is not a time for joking!" Said Daine angrily.  
  
"They're shooting!" Said Rosefyre. "Be ready as you can Numair."  
  
"I'm ready!" Numair yelled back.  
  
The ground gave a huge shake and everyone was thrown off his or her feet onto the ground. There was then a huge flash of black light and a gigantic beam of red light came shattering into it.  
  
"Oh shit!" Yelled Amy. "We're all going to die!"  
  
"Well thanks for being so optimistic on the matter." Said Reganas.  
  
"You aren't going to die." Said Numair. "The magic has been absorbed into my shield and they won't be able to try anything like that for a while."  
  
"Are you sure?" Asked Samkin.  
  
"Quite sure." Said Alanna. "If they could, they would have done so by now. They would try to catch us off guard."  
  
"You know, it would almost be funny if they shot at us again right now because we're all talking about it." Said Diana. She immediately looked around a tree up to the castle. "Nope, we're safe."  
  
"At least for a while anyway." Said Krizsta.  
  
"A while." Repeated Peter.  
  
"That's what she said." Said Kate. "I hope you haven't gone deaf."  
  
"A while." Said Peter again.  
  
"Shut up fool!" Said Kaitlin.  
  
"I know tensions are high but you don't have to call names." Said Kel.  
  
"A while." Peter said once again.  
  
"Stop saying that!" Said Neal.  
  
"I was just wondering how long a while can be?" Said Peter. "We want it to be forever but we know it can't be. So we know they're going to shoot at us again. And we know we have to be ready. In conclusion, Numair, how long do you think you're shield could last?"  
  
"Under conditions like that one?" Asked Numair. "Not long at all. Three hits at most maybe."  
  
Daine realized where Peter was going with his statements. "Remember when we were in Dunlath and the shield absorbed the blows and became stronger?" She said. "Do you think you could do that?"  
  
Numair looked confused. Then his face brightened. Then it fell again. "I could, but it would have to be anchored to something. And the something would have to be a highly magical object, like a black opal."  
  
"I severely doubt that we'll be able to find any black opals around here." Said Anne Marie.  
  
"I have a scrying crystal." Said Dom "I don't think that it'll work though. It's not very good."  
  
"All I have is my Gift." Said Neal. "And I'm using almost all of it to heal Marc and Kathryn."  
  
"And me!" Said Rosefyre. "I'm still not completely healed you know." She held her arm in front of Neal's face.  
  
"And Rose," agreed Neal.  
  
"I haven't got anything either." Said Alanna. Suddenly her face changed expressions completely. Her hand slowly crept up to her throat. "I have this." She slowly unfastened a chain around her neck and produced what looked like a flame captured in a glass jar.  
  
"What is it?" Asked Dom in awe. "I've never seen anything like it."  
  
"The Goddess gave it to me many, many years ago." Said Alanna.  
  
"Well if the Goddess did indeed give it to you," said Numair, "then I'm sure it would count as a magical object. May I see it?"  
  
Alanna handed in slowly to him. He almost dropped it. "It's surprisingly cold." Numair exclaimed. "I expected it to burn."  
  
"Wouldn't I warn you first?" Asked Alanna.  
  
"Knowing you," said Daine. "I'd say not."  
  
"Will you be able to use it?" Asked Caprice.  
  
"Yes," said Numair. "That is, if Alanna will let me use it."  
  
"Of course I will!" Said Alanna. "And why wouldn't I?"  
  
"Thank you greatly." Said Numair, swooping a fancy bow. "We now stand a much greater chance then we had before."  
  
"Three cheers for our magical object donor!" Said Maria.  
  
"Hip, hip hooray!" Said everyone happily.  
  
~*~  
  
Maddy carelessly chucked the pear core over her shoulder. It hit Meron on the head. "Ouch!" He said, massaging his forehead. "You have to me a little more careful, Maddy!"  
  
"Sorry," said Maddy.  
  
"It's OK." Said Gregory. "We love you anyway." He grabbed Maddy up in a tight bear hug and squeezed.  
  
"Can't...breathe." Said Maddy. "Must...filter...oxygen...into carbon...dioxide."  
  
Gregory coughed. "Sorry." He said, flushing. He let go of her and cautiously stepped back a few paces.  
  
"You'd better be!" Said Meron. "Nobody hugs my girl without my OK in the matter."  
  
"Bring it on!" Said Gregory.  
  
Meron and Gregory pretended to fight in slow motion carelessly tittering insanely the whole time.  
  
"You guys better shut up." Liney whispered slowly. "I think somebody's coming."  
  
Maddy, Meron, Gregory and Liney stepped slowly over to an open door and closed it almost all the way behind them. The left an inch wide crack open so that they could hear when the people had passed.  
  
"WHAT?" Yelled a female voice.  
  
"They've made a shield of magic that our beams cannot penetrate." Said a male voice. "We'll have to defeat them some other way."  
  
"I don't think I like that idea Bryan." Said the female voice.  
  
"What other choices do we have?" Asked Bryan.  
  
"That's why I've hired you." Said the female voice in a prettily. "You're here to come up with brilliant ideas so that I can take the credit for them."  
  
"But Jillian," started Bryan. "I think that-"  
  
"If I gave a damn what you think then we wouldn't be having this conversation, now would we?" Jillian said.  
  
There was a pause as if Bryan were shaking his head. "Good," said Jillian "Now report to my rooms when you have a GOOD idea."  
  
"Yes mistress." Said Bryan and there were sounds of retreating footsteps.  
  
"Yes, and when you come back we will discuss my plans for ruling the throne." Jillian called after him. There were then the sound of more retreating footsteps.  
  
The door of the room the four teenagers were hiding in slowly creaked open, revealing four very startled and confused spies.  
  
~*~  
  
Wow! I can't believe I just sat down and wrote that. It was, like, all on sudden inspiration. Cool! I feel special. Yey for me!  
  
You know, tons of stories (OK, like two, leave me alone) get random words of the days. *Pouts like a three year old* I want one too! *Suddenly becomes happy again* The random word for to day is Ickyickyp'tang. In honor to the Knights Who No Longer Say Ni! Hehe! I love that movie.  
  
Please read and review people! Tell me what you thought of that wonderful, if I do say so myself, chapter.  
  
Luv From,  
  
LadyKnight 


	17. In which the plot absolutely curdles

"We have to tell everybody!" Said Meron.  
  
"Exactly." Said Gregory.  
  
"I'll race you!" Said Maddy.  
  
"No fool!" Exclaimed Meron. "No more races! How many times must we repeat this?"  
  
"Seven-million, eight-hundred and seventy-two times." Said Liney.  
  
"Well, we'd better get started before we-" Started Gregory, but he was elbowed in the ribs by a slightly annoyed Maddy.  
  
"I'm not stupid!" Said Maddy. "I am quite sm-" She stopped and her eyes glazed over, and a few seconds later she began to drool. Liney held her fingers in front of Maddy's face and snapped four times. Maddy shook her head and finished her sentence, "-art, if you want to know the truth."  
  
"Of course you are, my diamond of beauty." Said Meron.  
  
Liney pivoted and stared at Gregory. "Why don't you call me any flowery nicknames? Maddy gets nicknames! I should too!"  
  
"Well, the thing is, I'm not to brilliant with coming up with original nicknames." Said Gregory. "But if and when we get out of this place, I swear on my dagger hilt that I'll try my very hardest!"  
  
"Is a dagger hilt the most honorable thing to swear on?" Asked Meron. "I thought hilts represented deception."  
  
"Shut up!" Gregory muttered.  
  
"Shiny!" Yelled Maddy suddenly. "I like shiny!" Maddy bent over to pick up a glittering object that lay on the ground.  
  
"It's a key." Said Liney when Maddy brought the object up for inspection. "I wonder what it's for."  
  
"Well, if we get out, we can see!" Said Meron starting to run.  
  
"Why do you say if?" Asked Gregory.  
  
"Because Maddy's shout attracted the guards." Said Meron. "And now, they've sighted us."  
  
"That's peachy." Said Liney breaking into a dead out run. "Simply peachy."  
  
"Do you really think so?" Asked Maddy. "I would consider that more of a minus, rather than a plus."  
  
"I was being sarcastic, Kumquat." Said Liney.  
  
"Oooh. I get it." Said Maddy, nodding. Then changed her mind and she shook her head. "No I don't."  
  
"Can we not discuss it?" Exclaimed a slightly hysterical Gregory. "I kind of want to focus my efforts on getting out of this Hell hole in one piece. And preferably alive, too."  
  
The four ran toward the door. Meron opened it only to find soldiers retreating toward them. Maddy screamed loudly and began to flail out with her fists, feet and even her head. Meron pulled the dagger of his boot and began stabbing recklessly at enemy flesh. Liney pulled out her dagger and charged at an extremely surly looking guard. Meron walked forward four steps and cracked one of the soldiers over the head with his slingshot. When the soldier fell to the ground totally shocked and unconscious Gregory saw his chance and leapt over him, bolting toward the forest, Liney slew a soldier with her dagger and ran after him. Maddy screamed and threw herself, arrowhead first, onto a guard. Unfortunately there was a yell from Meron and Maddy lost her concentration. The guard she was about to attack seized her in both his hands and lifted her up over his shoulders. Maddy screamed and beat at the man with her fists, Meron, who was in a similar position did the same. It did no good for either of them, and the guards slowly carried them off away from the door.  
  
~*~  
  
"There." Said Numair, just having finished adding the final touches on the magic shield he had been building for the past hour or so. Nothing will be able to get through unless I take it down. I hope I don't have to take it down though, the process would be long and painful."  
  
"You're going to be really mad when you see who's coming." Said Caprice, giggling a little.  
  
"Aw, damn it." Said Numair looking up. "Damn it all."  
  
Gregory and Liney came running up the barrier at top speed. Liney stopped in front of it and stared at the shield.  
  
"But if the shield is attached to the necklace thing," started Amy, "then wouldn't it go down if you disconnected the necklace?"  
  
"Sounds like it would work." Said Peter. "Allow me." He walked over to the necklace and stared at it. Then dark blue flames consumed it and a second later the shield flickered and disintegrated.  
  
"Wow." Said Numair. "I figured that only my Gift would be able to have the correct magical proportions to cause the spell to erode. But you have done it without the numerous magical magnitudes! Amazing!"  
  
"Say what now?" Asked Raganas.  
  
"He thought he was the only one who had enough Gift to kill the barrier thing, but Peter did it with his wimpy Gift." Said Maria.  
  
"Oh." Said Raganas.  
  
"My Gift is most certainly not wimpy!" Exclaimed Peter.  
  
"Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy." Said Diana in a singsong voice.  
  
"You guys are so mean to poor Peter here." Said Samkin.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"We should all sing together." Finished Samkin.  
  
"No, wait!" Cried Peter.  
  
"Peter's Gift is wimpy!" Sang Samkin, Diana and Maria. "Peter's Gift is wimpy! Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy!"  
  
"You're so heartless!" Pouted Peter. "I'll go over there where I'm iappreciated/i!" Peter stomped off to converse with his father, Marc and the still unconscious Kathryn.  
  
Liney and Gregory burst suddenly into the clearing where everybody was. "They got them!" Screeched Liney, and she fainted.  
  
"Oh my goodness!" Said Olivia. "What happened?"  
  
"And where are Maddy and Meron?" Asked Lady Light.  
  
"Tell us!" Said Krizsta. "Before we all die!" Everybody looked at Krizsta, slightly startled. "Of anticipation." Added Krizsta, laughing nervously.  
  
"We were in the castle there." Said Marc. "And we heard these two people talking, see. One was a man, called Bryan, and this woman, called Jillian." Gregory paused and let out a hacking cough.  
  
"We need you to continue." Said Kate. "I'll tend to you're injuries later."  
  
Gregory coughed once more and nodded. "They were talking about trying to become the rulers of Tortall."  
  
"What?" Said Alanna. "They were talking about overthrowing the king?"  
  
Gregory nodded. "If you'll hold your questions 'till the end. It's easier to keeping going without being stopped every minute."  
  
"Of course." Said Alanna. "Please continue."  
  
Gregory nodded once again and took in a deep breath. Then he continued. "Well then they went away. Maddy, Liney, Meron and I were trying to leave when Maddy found a key. We made a little too much noise and these guards started to chase us. But when we got to the door there were soldiers coming in. So we were completely trapped. Liney and I escaped but they got Maddy and Meron! We have to get them out of there! We have to charge in there right now!"  
  
"Yes we do." Said Kaytee.  
  
"No we don't." Said Cleon. "Those two can definitely take care of themselves. Maddy and Meron make one Hell of a team, if I do say so myself."  
  
"But what should we do?" Asked Kaitlin. "We can't just leave them in there!"  
  
"We'll wait a day or so." Said Raoul. "If they aren't out by then, we have to go in ourselves."  
  
"But this should only be as a last resort." Said Buri, looking sternly at everyone, including Cleon. "I don't want any of you going in there, even if they do have your friend." And then as an after thought she added for Cleon, "Or your son."  
  
"I suppose you're right." Said Anne Marie. "I'm not exactly crazy about the idea, but if it's best..."  
  
"It is." Said Dom. "That son of yours is quite a good fighter. And Maddy, too. If they can't get out of that trap, I don't think anybody could. Except me, of course."  
  
"Yeah right." Neal scoffed from over by Rosefyre, Marc and Kathryn. "You couldn't escape from there even if the exit danced in front of you naked, wearing a belt on its head!" He then turned to Rosefyre and said, "You're arm should be completely healed by now, why don't you go test it out."  
  
"So eager to get rid of me are you?" Said Rosefyre.  
  
Neal laughed. "Of course I am, you lazy thing!" He then turned back to fixing up Marc's battle wounds, occasionally giving a little 'Hah!' of laughter.  
  
"I don't know about you, but I'm nervous!" Said Maria. "But there's nothing I can do, right?"  
  
"Actually, you and I are the only people who can do anything." Said Daine. "Well, Liney could, but she's out cold for now."  
  
"Another patient!" Said Neal. "You guys are overworking me!"  
  
"I'm helping!" Yelled Kate, while tending to Gregory's wounds.  
  
"I can help with Liney if you like Neal." Said Alanna. "She's just unconscious and it doesn't look like she got too scraped up. I should be finished soon and it should drain my Gift very much at all."  
  
"Well, what can we do to help?" Asked Maria, turning back to Daine.  
  
"We can take animal form!" Said Daine. "Surely you remember how."  
  
"I do!" Said Maria. "But what should I become. It'd look quite awkward if, say, there was a squirrel in the castle."  
  
"If I could make a suggestion." Said Buri.  
  
"Please go ahead." Said Daine.  
  
"Mice." Buri said. "There are plenty of mouse holes in there, I'm sure and I doubt anyone would get extremely suspicious if they saw a mouse in the castle."  
  
"Brilliant!" Said Maria. "Let's see if I haven't gotten rusty!" In a blinking of an eye, Maria transformed into a small gray mouse.  
  
"Wonderful!" Said Daine. "Here I come." She also transformed. She became a brown mouse, slightly larger than the mouse that was Maria. The two mice looked at each other, blinked and looked back at the crowd of people.  
  
"Be careful in there!" Said Numair. "You know I don't like you doing these things Daine."  
  
The brown mouse blinked at Numair and turned and started to scuttle toward the castle. The gray mouse squeaked in disagreement and hurried after its friend.  
  
"Bye guys!" Said Raganas. "Well, this is all great and all, but I have war magic! I want to make something explode!"  
  
"Of course!" Said Numair. "I don't know if it will do any good, but I want you to concentrate on your palm."  
  
At that moment Raganas' hand burst into white flame. "Ooh, this tickles!" She said.  
  
Numair smiled. "I'm glad you enjoy it. Anyway, now I want you to concentrate on a certain part of the castle and ithrowi your magic at it!"  
  
"Gotcha!" Said Reganas. She shut her eyes and threw her ball of white flame up at the castle. It hit one of the towers, not causing it to fall, but making a good-sized hole in the wall where it had stuck.  
  
There was a low moan and Kathryn sat up, swaying slightly. "What's going on?" She asked looking around. "Where am I?"  
  
"Somebody else explain." Said Neal, laying down in exhaustion.  
  
~*~  
  
Yey! Another chapter! Aren't you proud of me? Of course you are. You're not? *Pouts* Well, nobody asked you mister Cleon! *Gets into an argument* Well, you haven't even read the rest of the story! What? That's it mister! *Whistles* Haha, you're in for it now buddy! *Killer the 8 foot, floating, blue donkey with oversized wings comes flying in* Sic him Killer! *Killer attacks Cleon* Hm, that was stress relieving! Please review. I'm off to go get myself a piece of cake! Yum!  
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight 


	18. In which here is some promised nose biti...

"If you don't let go of me right now, I'll bite your nose off!" Yelled Maddy as she pounded her captor with her fists. "I swear!"  
  
"You'd better do it," said Meron. "I've never seen her this mad, and I don't think I ever want to again."  
  
The guards looked at each other and laughed. "You think that we're afraid of some girl?" Said one of the guards. When he said the word girl he sneered.  
  
"They're just trying to frighten us Vlad." Said the other guard. "Don't let it get to you."  
  
"I wasn't planning on it, Holden." Said Vlad.  
  
"Good," said Holden. "Imagine what the boss would do to us if these two got away."  
  
Maddy opened her mouth to yell something but Meron silenced her and mouthed 'Let them talk, I want to hear what they're saying, and if you distract them, they might remember to be more cautious around us.'  
  
Maddy looked confused. Did he think I actually understood that? She thought. I can't read lips!  
  
"Why are these two so special?" Asked Vlad. "It's just a boy and his girlfriend."  
  
Meron went blushed scarlet, I'm not her boyfriend! Thought Meron, and then his expression changed to one of slight dejection. She might not want me to be.  
  
Maddy, however, looked thoughtful. He is really sweet, but he hasn't asked me yet, and I'm not going to wait around forever!  
  
"They know what they outsiders are doing," said Holden, "and maybe they have some knowledge about the king."  
  
The two guards were silent for the rest of the walk. Finally, when they arrived at the end of a stairway, they saw several dungeon cells.  
  
"Put 'em in this one." Said Holden. "I don't think we need to shackle them."  
  
"I don't want to go in there!" Said Maddy, giving up on being quiet. "It's dirty! And there might be rats! Or spiders!"  
  
"Rats?" Asked Meron, his voice cracking slightly. "I hate rats!"  
  
"Oh, well do their majesties want wine with their cake, or apple juice?" Asked Vlad, sneering.  
  
"Apple juice." Said Maddy, without hesitation. "I'm too young for wine."  
  
Meron rolled his eyes. "He was being sarcastic, Mads."  
  
"But, it wasn't funny." Said Maddy, her eyes wide and a look of confusion flashing everywhere on her face.  
  
"It wasn't funny?" Asked Holden. "Nobody cares. Just get in the cell and shut up."  
  
"We love you too." Said Maddy, glaring at Holden.  
  
"Yeah," said Meron. "But get out of our faces, we can only stare at something this ugly for so long."  
  
"You'll be wishing you'd been nice to us when the bosses come around." Snarled Vlad. "You'll be sorry then."  
  
"Yeah whatever." Said Meron. "Go tell your little boss that we're ready for him. So he should hurry up before we decide we want to meet him now, dagger first."  
  
~*~  
  
Alanna inhaled a deep breath. "Well, the spies have infiltrated the castle, but Maddy and Meron got captured, and Reganas shot at the castle with her magic. Also, Daine and Maria have gone into the castle as mice."  
  
"Wow, that was a lot shorter then I ever could have said it!" Said Numair.  
  
"That's just because you use big words that nobody can understand." Said Krizsta.  
  
"She's right, Numz, you know you talk all fancy." Said Raganas.  
  
"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean!" Said Numair, pouting.  
  
"No pouting now!" Said Kel. "Chin up! Chin up!"  
  
"My gods!" Sighed Olivia. "What are you, a physiatrist?"  
  
"Um, as I'm not entirely sure what that is, no?" Kel said, grinning in an unsure way.  
  
"Oh no!" Yelled Kathryn. "Are Maddy and Meron OK?" She latched onto Kaytee's hand and squeezed.  
  
"First, how on earth would we know?" Said Kaytee. "And second, you're cutting off all circulation to my hand."  
  
Kathryn blinked. "That means let go." Explained Kaitlin. Kathryn nodded and released Kaytee's hand.  
  
"Ouch!" Said Kaytee, massaging her hand. "That really hurt!"  
  
"I'm sorry." Said Kathryn, sheepishly.  
  
Rosefyre looked up from the piece of food she was currently eating. "What should we do now?"  
  
"Is there anything we can do?" Asked Lady Light.  
  
"Wait." Said Buri.  
  
Liney looked unlatched herself from around Gregory's shoulders. "I can't just wait around for my friends to get tortured or maybe killed!"  
  
Gregory looked around. "We have to keep an optimistic tone about things, pumpkin."  
  
"Great!" Said Diana. "Another shrink in making!"  
  
"Huh?" Asked Gregory, obviously confused.  
  
"Never mind." Replied Diana.  
  
Anne Marie giggled. When Gregory looked at her she said, "It's nothing! It's just...nothing!"  
  
"It really is nothing, honey." Said Liney, glaring at Diana and Anne Marie as if to say 'don't mess with m' man.'  
  
"Well, you've claimed her, haven't you?" Neal asked Gregory quietly.  
  
"In some ways." Said Gregory elusively.  
  
"What's this about claiming?" Asked Amy.  
  
"Nothing!" Said Neal and Gregory, as innocent as the summer sky.  
  
"Sure..." Said Amy.  
  
"You've claimed Liney already?" Asked Marc, popping in, one of his arms in a sling.  
  
"You have?" Asked Peter. "Nice one!"  
  
Samkin grinned mischievously. "Have you even gotten her OK yet?"  
  
Soon everyone was talking about Gregory and Liney becoming a couple. Except of course, Liney, who was happily roasting a piece of meat over the merrily blazing fire, and was completely oblivious to all of the things happening around her.  
  
"I know you're all having fun with gossip and all," started Alanna. "But we really do have bigger fish to fry!"  
  
"Food?" Asked Caprice. "That's good because I'm hungry!"  
  
"Stop whining." Said Raoul. "I can't stand whining!"  
  
"Besides, it's a figure of speech." Said Kate. At that moment her stomach gave a loud growl. "Hm, I think I'm hungry too." She then ran over to Liney and attempted to steal the piece of meat off of the stick that she was using to roast it.  
  
"Daine and Maria should be able to rescue Maddy and Meron." Said George. "It'll be a piece of cake, since they can shape change and all."  
  
Caprice's stomach rumbled. "Could you stop talking about food-"  
  
"I think we should organize a plan." Said Kel. "Just in case they don't come out before tomorrow."  
  
"Then can we eat?" Asked Caprice.  
  
"Yeah!" Exclaimed Kate. "Eat!"  
  
"Yes," said Numair. "Then we can eat."  
  
"Wahoo!" Said Caprice and Kate as they high-fived each other.  
  
"I got a plan!" Said Raganas leaping up and down.  
  
"I have a plan." Corrected Rosefyre.  
  
"I was first!" Said Raganas. "We should burn the castle down!"  
  
"We'd roast Maddy and Meron alive!" Exclaimed Cleon. "I don't really care for anything that roasts my son and his little friend alive, thank you very much."  
  
"Yuck," said Krizsta. "I'm not hungry any more."  
  
"Me neither." Said Liney, putting down the meat she was cooking. "Especially since I'm not sure what type of meat this is."  
  
"It's Herman!" Exclaimed Cleon. "My plaid fish! HERMAN! NO!"  
  
(AN: Sorry peoples, drama joke, couldn't resist.)  
  
Everyone stared at him, blinking. Cleon's cheeks turned gained a rosy tinge and he laughed nervously.  
  
"OK." Said Lady Light, inching away. "I'll just go over there now."  
  
Samkin pulled Neal over to him. "Are you really friends with that guy?" He asked.  
  
"Yes," said Neal. "He just gets a little hysterical sometimes."  
  
"Like Maddy?" Asked Samkin.  
  
"Not that bad!" Said Neal, shocked.  
  
"Oh good, I was afraid there for a second." Said Samkin, wiping imaginary sweat off of his forehead.  
  
"OK, everyone." Yelled Buri. "We should probably hit the hay for tonight."  
  
"What did the hay every do to you, huh?" Yelled Kathryn. "Why does it deserve to be hit?"  
  
There was a dull thud, and an "Ow!" Apparently, Kaytee had just whacked Kathryn on the top of her head with a piece of bark.  
  
"Good night everybody!" Yelled Anne Marie. And everybody settled down for a tough night of tossing and turning.  
  
~*~  
  
Did you all like it? Sorry I took like forever to write it. *Gnaws happily on her calculator* I'm so tired. Now that I've finished typing this, I think I'll go back to bed. Tell me what you think!  
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight  
  
P.S. I'm sorry that I didn't put you in, Maria. You'll have a pretty big part in the next chapter, though, I promise! 


	19. In which there are actually no birds and...

It was early in the morning. The sun was just peaking over the mountains when Olivia and Kaitlin snuck out of their tent, giggling evilly. Olivia held a large brass pan, and Kaitlin held a stout stick.  
  
"On three." Said Olivia.  
  
"One, THREE!" Yelled Kaitlin as she struck the stick to the pan with all her might.  
  
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! Everyone stumbled out of their tents, bleary eyed, tousle haired and duck-footed. Kate fell over and, by all appearances, fell back a to sleep.  
  
"What's all the ruckus?" Asked Cleon, itching his bum.  
  
"I don't know." Said George. "Must be some kind of bird."  
  
"Stupid birds!" Yelled Neal, taking off his fluffy rabbit slipper and chucking it at the sky. It fell back and hit him on the head.  
  
After a little while Kel decided that everybody should have some nice warm breakfast to wake them up. She found some fish by the fire circle and put them on a spit. Then she rummaged around in her pocket for some flint, which she found, and used to make a nice, roaring fire.  
  
Liney sighed and started to walk around in a circle. She had been pacing around the same circle for ten minutes when a trench started to form. Liney, however, took no notice and continued on her trek.  
  
"You've been walking about like that for like an hour." Said Caprice.  
  
"Are you obsessive compulsive or something?" Asked Kaitlin.  
  
"I'm not!" Said Kate. "I'm not! I'm not! I'm not! I'm not! I'm not! I'm not! I'm nooooooooooooooooot!"  
  
"And you think I'm weird?" Asked Cleon, looking apprehensively at Kate.  
  
"Nope," said Anne Marie. "That was me."  
  
Kathryn looked at Cleon. "You had it coming to you. Rambling on about moronic things like Herman the plaid fish! I mean, sheesh!" She then lowered her voice and took something out of her pocket. She then started to stroke it. "Nothing will ever come between us. You're mine. My own. My precious."  
  
"What was that you were whispering to?" Asked Krizsta.  
  
"Nothing!" Exclaimed Kathryn. "My rocky! Stay back, fools!"  
  
"Um, right." Said Diana.  
  
"Hey!" Yelled Lady Light. "Anybody want to limbo?"  
  
"What did you just call me?" Rosefyre screeched at Lady Light. "I am not a bimbo, I'll have you know."  
  
"She said limbo, Rose." Raganas explained. "And sure! I love limbo!" She started to hum. "Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, da!"  
  
"That's the conga line song." Said Anne Marie.  
  
"Conga line?" Asked Olivia. "Where? I wanna conga!"  
  
"Wahoo! I'm a bird!" Yelled Peter, running around and flapping his arms crazily. "Look at me everybody!"  
  
"Make the insanity stop!" Shouted Raoul, clutching his head, and cowering toward the ground.  
  
Buri patted his back soothingly. "There, there." She said, calmingly.  
  
Meanwhile Amy and Kaytee were arguing with Dom.  
  
"You do too!" Yelled Kaytee. "I can see it in your eyes every time you look at her."  
  
"Yeah," said Amy. "Your eyes get all starry and you can almost hear your heart going 'tha-thump, tha-thump'"  
  
"I do not!" Pouted Dom. "You so can not!"  
  
"We know you do, mister." Said Kaytee, prodding at Dom's chest with her finger. "Don't deny it."  
  
"Back in Corus children listened to their elders." Dom said, unhappily.  
  
"Good thing we're not in Corus then," said Amy. "It'd be a drag to have to listen to you all the time."  
  
"And you're not going to steer clear of this topic that easily." Said Kaytee, still jabbing at Dom's chest.  
  
"Just admit that you love Kel!" Said Amy.  
  
"What's all this about?" Asked Kel, walking over. "I heard my name."  
  
"Nothing." Dom, Kaytee, and Any said, innocently.  
  
"Sure." Said Kel, eyeing them suspiciously. The second she turned around Dom made a very rude gesture t the two girls, who both returned the gesture before all three of them dissolved in laughter. They stopped abruptly, however, when a lout should of "NO!" rattled through the air.  
  
"No, no, no, no, NO!" Screamed Liney. "I will NOT stop worrying!"  
  
"Please?" Asked Gregory, hugging an almost sobbing Liney. "There's nothing we can do right now!"  
  
"But that's the problem!" Liney cried into Gregory's chest.  
  
"All we can really do is hope Maria and Daine can help." Said Numair. "Which I'm sure they can."  
  
"Speak of the devil." Said Alanna.  
  
At that moment two mice, one gray, one brown, came scurrying toward the camp. They stopped a few yards away from the group of people and ran into the surrounding woods.  
  
Ten or so minutes later, Daine and Maria walked out of the trees, fully dressed and looking very harried.  
  
"Where are Maddy and Meron?" Asked Liney rushing up to Maria.  
  
"Weren't you supposed to be getting them?" Asked Samkin.  
  
"Hold on!" Yelled Buri. "Let them tell us their story."  
  
Daine nodded to Buri in silent thanks. "It was like this," she said. "We were running around the castle as mice when we heard two people arguing."  
  
"A man and a woman." Interrupted Maria.  
  
"If you wouldn't interrupt, everything would be much easier." Said Kel.  
  
"Too bad," Maria said.  
  
"Anyway," Daine said. "We heard these people arguing so we decided to go and see what it was."  
  
"It was this really pretty lady and a young man about nineteen." Said Maria. "And she looked to be seducin' him to get what she wanted."  
  
"Did you catch their names?" Asked Krizsta, glancing at Gregory and Liney. "They saw a man and a woman too."  
  
"I think it was Lillian and Ryan," said Daine, "but I wasn't quite sure."  
  
"Could it have been Jillian and Bryan?" Asked Gregory.  
  
Maria looked at Daine. "I told you that's what is was!" She exclaimed. "But did you listen? No." She dragged the 'o' out in 'no' so it seemed that she though that Daine was acting like a know-it-all.  
  
"Yes, yes." Said Numair. "But all this isn't really important. Can we please get back to the story?"  
  
"Oh." Said Maria. "Of course. So Jillian wanted Bryan to get some prisoners and bring them up to her room for questioning. Bryan didn't want to because he had heard the prisoners were feisty fighters or something."'  
  
"Then Jillian decided just to send some guards even though Bryan would be more ideal because she didn't really trust the guards." Daine said.  
  
"So we decided to go down to the dungeon to try and free Maddy and Meron before the guards came." Maria explained. "But on e of the guards spotted us and decided to use us as target practice. He was a lousy shot but we still didn't want to stick around."  
  
Kel stood up from her place at the fire, several freshly cooked fish in her arms. "That's it?" She asked.  
  
"Yes, that's pretty much everything." Said Daine, nodding and helping herself to a piece of meat that Kel offered her.  
  
"That's all?" Asked Marc, already gnawing on his bit of fish from Kel. "What about Meron and Maddy?"  
  
"We couldn't do anything!" Maria cried. "We were helpless. And even if we did manage to find their cell without being seen how would we get them out?"  
  
"Well you could have snuck into some sort of mouse hole and come out when the guard stopped shooting." Said Kate.  
  
"Maddy and Meron have weapons," Olivia said, poking at her piece of fish with a finger, just to make sure it was dead. "If you let them out, they would have killed the guards, no trouble. Then it would be easy to go from there."  
  
Maria's eyes got bigger and she started to pound her forehead with her fist. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She said. "We're so stupid! Why didn't Daine think of that? And for goodness sake, why didn't I think of it?"  
  
"Because you're stupid?" Asked Rosefyre, highly annoyed.  
  
"Well, now that we've tried, it would be too difficult to do that again." Said Caprice, comforting a highly distressed Cleon.  
  
"No we aren't!" Said Raganas stomping her foot. "If we stand strong and believe in ourselves, we can do anything!"  
  
"Why is everybody so optimistic?" Asked Kathryn, shrugging. "We're all going to die here, anyway."  
  
"Thanks for your positive outlook, Kathryn." Muttered Kate.  
  
"Well, I don't know what we can't do." Said Alanna. "But I know that we can at least make some sort of plan for action."  
  
"Great idea!" Said Cleon, brightening up slightly and wiping his eyes with his bit of fish. "Let's get started right now!"  
  
~*~  
  
Maddy sneezed. "AhCHOO!" She sniffled twice and wiped her nose daintily on her sleeve. Then she clapped twice. When Meron stared at her she said, "Clap twice to save the fairies." Meron shrugged and didn't ask for an explanation.  
  
"OK," said Meron, digging around in his pocket for a clean handkerchief. He was unable to find one so he ripped off a bit of his sleeve and offered it to Maddy with a flourishing gesture. "Kindly accept my handkerchief, fair maiden."  
  
Maddy giggled. "Thankies, gentle sir. I appreciate your generosity." Maddy then attempted to curtsy but she fell over and lay sprawled on the ground.  
  
Meron laughed heartily and flopped down on the ground next to Maddy. They looked at each other. Maddy's eyes wide with curiosity untold, and Meron's eyes narrow with knowing. In that moment Meron shifted so his head and one of his arms was over Maddy. Maddy lifted her head to reach Meron's and he kissed her lightly on the lips.  
  
(AN: Oooh! Kissy, kissy! *Rolls around on the ground giggling insanely* I just realized how all the guys are so polite! If only they were like that in the real world...)  
  
Maddy inched up, slowly so that she wouldn't have to let go of Meron's warm lips, until she was in a sitting position. They stopped kissing for a moment.  
  
"Again," said a slightly breathless Maddy.  
  
"My pleasure," Meron said and pressed his lips to both of Maddy's eyelids, then onto her nose, then he found her lips.  
  
"Haven't you had enough yet?" Asked a voice from outside the bars.  
  
"Not nearly," said Maddy and Meron at the same time. "Come back in a few minutes."  
  
"No way." Said the voice. "It's time for us to have a little fun." There was then a swish and a crack of a whip. Maddy cringed and Meron put his arm around her.  
  
"Vlad, Holden, you don't really want to hurt us, do you?" Meron wheedled.  
  
"We don't?" Vlad asked, stupidly.  
  
"No," Meron continued. "You're just following orders, like good little minions. You actually really like us, but don't want to loose your jobs."  
  
"No, we actually want to hurt you." Said Holden. "In addition to following orders."  
  
"Oh." Said Meron. "It was worth a shot."  
  
Vlad opened the door carefully and tied a rope around Maddy's neck as Holden tied one around Meron's.  
  
Maddy snarled and tried to kick, scratch and bite at Vlad. But Vlad yanked the rope and lashed Maddy across the back with his whip. Maddy fell to the ground, clawing at the rope. She then scrambled back up wheezing and sobbing.  
  
There was so much anger radiating from the two teens that you could chop it with a meat cleaver. Actually, you can chop almost anything with a meat cleaver...  
  
Holden kicked Meron out the door and Vlad motioned for Maddy to follow Meron, or he would kick her out as well. Maddy stumbled out of the cell, snarling and glaring daggers at the two men.  
  
"Walk quickly, you two." Said Holden, fingering the whip hung on his belt. "We're going to see the boss."  
  
~*~  
  
Wow, took me a while to write that one. It was so long on paper, but when I typed it, it shortened by like seven pages. How annoying. Oh, and I'm sorry I had to put you through the romance, if you don't like romance, but as you might be able to tell, I was in a psychiatric mood today. It was weird. Anyway, please review!  
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight 


	20. In which there is a green rock named Phi...

"But I already said the only good plan of action!" Raganas exclaimed. "We have to torch the place! Right down to the ground!"  
  
"First," said Kel, "That's a horrible idea first, the castle's stone, it wont burn. And second, if it were wood or something flammable, and we did manage to light it without somebody noticing and shooting us down, Maddy and Meron would be roasted alive! I said that already, remember?"  
  
"Oh yes," said Amy. "I remember you saying that." Her face was turning a pale green color as she spoke. She turned around and threw up the fish she had been eating.  
  
"Ugh!" Exclaimed Kaytee in utter disgust. "Careful where you spew, Amy! You almost got my leg!"  
  
"Sorry." Amy apologized. "It's kind of hard to aim when you're sick. Your vision's all fuzzy, you know?"  
  
"Back to non-puke related matters..." Dom said. "I don't think my fragile mind could take much more of this!"  
  
"Sure," said Liney. "You have a fragile mind, and I'm a Super Sayain Three." She then looked around experimentally and yelled, "KAMEHAMEHA!" Nothing happened.  
  
"I'm thinking that means you don't have a fragile mind, Dom." Said Krizsta.  
  
"I'm confused." Samkin said. "What are you guys talking about?"  
  
"I don't properly know," Cleon remarked, "but it's a really, really cool word! I want to be a Super Say-a-majig."  
  
Rosefyre flinched and got off the rock she was sitting on. Standing up and walking over to Cleon she said, "Cleon, hun, not to be terribly rude or anything but-"  
  
"You sound like a four year-old whose mommy has taken him to the candy store but won't buy him anything." Kate cut in.  
  
Rosefyre glared daggers at Kate who looked blissfully unaware. "I don't need your commentary, bitch."  
  
"Woah, cat fight!" Yelled Peter. Then he curved his fingers so they looked like claws and brought his and in a downward sweeping motion. "Rawr!"  
  
That was too much for Kate. She dove on Peter, pummeling him recklessly between each word she said. "You...are...a...BASTARD!"  
  
"Mercy!" Cried Peter, as he held his hands up in submission. "No more! You win! Uncle, uncle!"  
  
"What's an uncle?" Asked Lady Light. "Wait, that was stupid. That's not what I meant...Honestly!"  
  
"Gods!" Muttered Marc. "Issues!" Lady Light snarled at him. Marc jumped slightly and hid behind Kathryn, whimpering.  
  
"Hey guys!" Kaitlin yelled happily as she leaped up and down. "Guess what! Guess what I found! Go on, guess!"  
  
Everyone stared at her, but nobody said a word. George coughed uncomfortably and said, "We give up."  
  
"I found a GREEN rock!" Kaitlin shouted, waving around a rock that just so happened to be gray, like every sing other rock that was in the clearing. "A green one, I tell you! And I named it Phillip! Phil for short."  
  
"Excuse me while I try to find a jar to contain my joy." Kathryn said, sarcasm dripping from every word.  
  
"Um, OK!" Said Kaitlin, completely missing the sarcasm.  
  
"Yahoozlefee!" Olivia screamed at the top of her lungs.  
  
"Oh...yeah." Said Diana, completely horrified. "I'm going to go on over there now." She turned tail and ran off to the other side of the clearing.  
  
"I see dead people." Whispered Maria. Her eyes suddenly got really wide and she screamed, "THEY'RE COMING FOR YOU!"  
  
Neal gave a girlish scream and hid behind Raoul, who was already cowering, severely frightened, behind Buri.  
  
"Now, now," said Buri to Maria. "You're scaring them!"  
  
Alanna sighed. "How did I get myself into the horrible mess?" She asked herself. She then picked up a log and started to smash her head with it. Yelps of pain escaped her and everybody backed away, staring at Alanna like she was a dog that had rabies, or at least had rolled in something very smelly.  
  
"I've got a plan!" Yelled Daine.  
  
Everyone quieted instantly and Cleon stopped chewing on a piece of moss. They were so quiet that you could hear in the far distance the sound of somebody yelling 'Please do not land flying carthorses on the bathers.'  
  
Numair ignored this slightly odd and random sentence and said, "Daine and I have been thinking and we think we know what to do."  
  
"What is it?" Asked Anne Marie sitting down on Numair's feet because she didn't want to get her breeches dirty. "Tell us the plan before we all die- "  
  
"Of anticipation." Finished Rosefyre.  
  
"Anyway," Daine started, "we think we should get some people back into the castle."  
  
"Wait a moment!" Said Kel. "We've already gone of this many, many times! It really isn't a smart idea to put anybody else at suck high risk!"  
  
"We've been through and through it, I assure you." Said Numair. "We've discovered that the theological risk is not as high as one might think. However, taken into consideration that the level of capture is rather high."  
  
"In English?" Peter prompted. "I don't understand your fancy talk."  
  
"Me neither!" Agreed Kate, nodding at Peter, who smiled at her dazzlingly.  
  
"He said that the risk is not really that much, but somebody might get captured." Translated Dom. "That's what I think he said at least."  
  
"But how does the plan work?" Asked Gregory, squeezing Liney slightly with one arm.  
  
"Same as it did last time!" Said Daine. "We start shooting at them, they get distracted and we sneak in. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy."  
  
"Who should go in, though?" Asked Caprice. "I sure don't want to set foot in that castle, thank you very much!"  
  
"You're welcome very much." Said Cleon. "Wait, why are you thanking me again? I seem to have forgotten." He tossed the piece of moss he was chewing on up into the air, trying to catch it in his mouth. It fell back down and hit him in the eye. "That hurt!" He plopped down onto the ground, sniffling.  
  
"Don't feel that bad." Soothed Kathryn. "Just because you're a loser...I mean a...person who can't chuck things into the air and catch them in his mouth." She picked up Cleon's moss and tossed it into the fire. The fire hissed loudly, as if resenting being fed something with Cleon germs on it. It crackled for a few seconds and then, abruptly, died.  
  
"Crap muffins." Muttered Raganas. "Now we'll have no warmth!"  
  
"Hello!" Yelled Rosefyre. "It's summer!"  
  
"Oh....yeah." Said Raganas.  
  
Liney looked up from Gregory's flannel shirt. "I'll go into the castle." She said, wiping her nose on Gregory's sleeve. "I've already been in, I know my way around. Well, not really, but I can do it better than anybody else here."  
  
"Except me." Said Gregory. "And don't think you're going anywhere with out me! You need me, admit it."  
  
"No." Said Liney, stubbornly. "But you're coming anyway."  
  
"Anybody else want to come with?" Asked Gregory.  
  
Everybody took three steps back, in unison. "No we're good." Said Amy.  
  
Liney started to run off in the direction of the castle. "I'll wave for you to start shooting." She said over her shoulder.  
  
"Ready when you are." Said Lady Light loading her slingshot.  
  
~*~  
  
"Walk faster, you little slut!" Vlad yelled at Maddy. "I said FASTER!"  
  
Maddy looked back at Vlad and snarled. She would have bit him, but he still held the whip, and she had the marks on her back to keep her away.  
  
Meron dived on Holden, regardless of the lashes that Holden laid across his back arms, legs and face. He bit Holden's arm and yanked with his teeth. Holden screeched in agony and yanked on the rope around Meron's neck. Meron gasped and ripped once more at the flesh he had in his mouth before he let go to claw at the rope around his neck that was slowly strangling him.  
  
"Bastard!" Holden said in awe. "You fucking little bastard." There was a huge tear in his arm that was steadily gushing blood. Meron spat out some of Holden's flesh that was hanging out of his mouth.  
  
"Are you okay, Holden?" Asked Vlad.  
  
"Do I look ok, asshole?" Holden spat.  
  
"No, not really." Said Vlad. "You have a huge rip in your arm that's gushing blood. Haven't you noticed?"  
  
"I have noticed, Idiot." Holden snarled.  
  
"No need for name calling." Vlad said.  
  
Holden sighed. "Just shut up and guard the little bitch."  
  
Maddy growled deep in her throat. "You had better not call me names." Her eyes narrowed to slits as she looked at Holden. "I swear, when I get out of here, I'll make your days a living hell. Mark my words."  
  
Holden laughed, full throated and loud. "I'd like to see you try."  
  
Maddy smiled in grim satisfaction. "I would but I'm all tied up at the moment. Or had your small brain not comprehended that little fact."  
  
"May I remind you who has the whip?" Said Holden. "And who's the one tied on the end of a rope?"  
  
"I don't need reminding." Maddy snarled. "Do you?"  
  
"Naw, I'm good." Said Vlad. "How about you, Holdy?"  
  
"Shut up." Said Holden. "Anyway, we're here."  
  
A young woman in her late teens with golden-blonde hair that fell to her thighs in sheets was standing out in front of a large ornate door. "Are these the two that were giving you all this trouble?" She asked. "They honestly don't look like much."  
  
"They're more then they seem, Nell, honest!" Said Vlad.  
  
The woman, Nell, looked at Vlad. "You never were a really bright one, were you?"  
  
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Said Vlad in what he thought was a sophisticated tone.  
  
"In other words," said Holden, "yes."  
  
Nell laughed and Vlad pouted. "The mistress is waiting." Nell said. "Do come in. And bring those two." She pointed at Maddy and Meron.  
  
"Are you sure you don't want to take them alone?" Asked Holden looking slightly nervous. "I'm not afraid or anything."  
  
"Sure you aren't." Said Nell skeptically, raising her thin eyebrow and widening her blue-green eyes. "But I wouldn't risk it. You two can keep them. I don't mind if you get hurt."  
  
"I'm so glad you care." Muttered Holden as he dragged Meron into the room and gestured for Vlad to follow, Nell closing the door behind them.  
  
~*~  
  
Yey! I finally wrote another chapter! I'm so pleased! *Does the rarely seen Maddy Victory Dance on top of her computer* I hope you liked it. Did you? You did? Yey! Please make my day, well kinda, and review!  
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight 


	21. In which there is a most unfortunate hap...

Everyone checked their weapons as Gregory and Liney crept silently toward the wall. All of a sudden there were two loud noises. Whap! Whap!  
  
Kate whined and held her head. "It's the FWUMPs all over again!"  
  
Caprice looked around in terror. "What was it?"  
  
Peter was staring out into the clearing in front of the castle. "I think I have a good idea." He said and pointed to the two fallen forms of Liney and Gregory.  
  
"Oohoo!" Screamed Cleon and covered his face.  
  
As cats, Maria and Daine crept out to where the two lay. Daine sniffed them twice and reformed as a human, disregarding her lack of clothing. Alanna had all the males turn around so that they were facing away from the nude Daine.  
  
Maria, being slightly more self-conscious, remained a cat and continued to sniff at the crumpled forms of Gregory and Liney.  
  
"They're unconscious!" Daine shouted back to the rest. "It's not bad, though Liney may suffer from a slight concussion or memory loss."  
  
"I suppose that means we'll have to think of a new plan." Said Numair, turning around. To Alanna he added. "It doesn't matter, I've seen her like this before."  
  
"Pervert." Raganas muttered.  
  
"It would suit you not to call your teacher names." Numair retaliated. "Your teacher may become angry."  
  
"Well my teacher can jolly well have conniptions." Raganas scoffed. "I jolly well don't give a damn."  
  
Diana elbowed Raganas in the stomach. "You had better 'jolly well' shut up!"  
  
Kel grinned. "You sound like my friend Sir Owen."  
  
"That's bad?" Amy asked. "I thought he was cool."  
  
Lady Light hid a smile behind her hand. Then she frowned. "Wait, but if Gregory and Liney can't get into the castle, what'll we do?"  
  
Rosefyre shrugged. "You're the one with Sight."  
  
"You have it too!" Lady Light retorted.  
  
"Oh right."  
  
"Why don't you guys be all Sighty over there." Kathryn said. "We'll try to come up with an idea or something."  
  
George walked over. "You two may need my help," George said. "Being all 'Sighty' isn't quite a stroll down in the park."  
  
"Well I don't know about all of you," Anne Marie said. "But this has gone on long enough! I'm going to put a stop to it. Right now, right here." Anne Marie snatched up a sword and walked out into the open.  
  
"No!" Krizsta whisper yelled. "You'll be killed for sure!"  
  
Anne Marie didn't hear, or chose to pretend like she didn't hear. "I demand to speak with the ruler of this castle." She yelled at the top of her lungs. "I demand it, and I demand it right now!"  
  
A figure appeared at the top of the wall. "The ruler of this castle can not be bothered by you, puny girl-child."  
  
"I don't care what he can and cannot be bothered by!" Anne Marie replied. "I must speak to him!"  
  
"Well, I'm afraid you won't be able to anyway." The shadowed figure shouted back. He then raised his hand and two archers appeared beside him. "Good bye." He lowered his hand, and the archers shot.  
  
"No!" Screamed Kaytee, but it was too late. Two arrows had already buried themselves in Anne Marie's chest.  
  
Maria, who was still in cat form, ran out to the body of her other friend. She sniffed it. Then she let out a piteous moan, like no sound a cat could ever make and lay down next to Anne Marie, cuddling against her still warm body.  
  
"She's not..." Whispered Dom. "She can't be."  
  
Maria wailed again. The same plantive wail, in answer to Dom's question.  
  
"No," Amy said, tears starting to run down her face. "Maria has to be wrong. She just has to be!"  
  
Olivia, Krizsta and Kaitlin ran out to plop beside Maria and Anne Marie. Olivia felt Anne Marie's wrist. "There's nothing." She said sorrowfully. "No pulse."  
  
Kaitlin ran her fingers through Anne Marie's hair. "She's gone." A single tear trickled down Kaitlin's cheek to land on the sand. "Gone forever."  
  
Krizsta sobbed loudly stroking Maria's fur absent-mindedly. "Stupid!" She shouted. "If you had listened to me, you would still be alive. Why didn't you listen? Why?" She dissolved fully into tears and anything she said after that was indistinguishable.  
  
Raoul walked forward and carefully picked up Anne Marie's limp form. "We'll just have to give our friend a burial." He carefully laid Anne Marie on the ground and knelt next to her. "You were a wonderful fighter, and a wonderful person. You did not deserve to die. We will all miss you very much." Raoul stood up and wiped a tear away from Buri's eye, while patting his own eyes with his sleeve.  
  
"But what about Anne Marie's parents?" Kaitlin whispered to Krizsta. "Back on Earth."  
  
Numair walked up and put a large hand on Kaitlin's shoulder. "I know what ails you. Lady Tamora told me. I have laid a spell on all of you, so that if you died, you would wake up, back on your Earth, thinking it was all a dream."  
  
"That would be awkward." Krizsta said, scratching her head.  
  
Neal's hands pulsed green for a moment and he stood. Liney rolled over and muttered something that sounded like "Mirai" and fell silent again.  
  
"What's Mirai?" Asked Samkin.  
  
"I don't rightly know." Marc said. "It's probably some girl thing."  
  
"Does this have anything to do with the Saiyan thing?" Cleon asked. "Because Mirai sounds like a Saiyan name. Whatever a Saiyan is."  
  
Rosefyre and Lady Light ran over and fell down beside Raoul, Buri and Anne Marie. Rosefyre put her head in her hands and started to cry. "Why?" She cried. "You were one of my closest friends! Why did you have to die?"  
  
"We just saw." Explained Lady Light, tears running down her cheeks. "We were looking though the castle with our Sight and then we lingered outside and we Saw."  
  
Cleon looked up from his Saiyan wonders. "What did you see?" He asked. "Why are you all so sad. And why is Anne Marie lying on the ground. Did she faint of hunger? Because I am hungry too! Do we have anything to eat?"  
  
Alanna looked at Cleon. "You really haven't any brains at all, have you?"  
  
Cleon looked startled. "Why would you say that?"  
  
Alanna glared daggers at Cleon and wiped her tear-stained eyes on her sleeve. "Anne Marie has...passed away."  
  
Cleon stood there stupidly. "But she's right there."  
  
"Moron!" Dom exclaimed. "Can you not see that she has died?"  
  
Cleon's face faulted. "But..." He fell to his knees next to the girl's body. "She was just alive. She too young to just die."  
  
Kel came forward and laid a hand on Cleon's shoulder. "She was shot, longbow. Two times, right in the chest."  
  
"NO!" Marc cried. "They'll pay for this! They'll pay with their blood." He pounded his fists into the dirt.  
  
"I will hold you to that." Kate said putting down her bow and arrows to hug Marc around the shoulders while still wiping away her own tears. "And I will help, too."  
  
Rosefyre's eyes glazed over and she said in a tone lower than her usual voice, "Do not send more people inside the castle. The two inside can handle the evil that lurks around the bend. All you must do is kill the army that lays inside." Rosefyre's vision then became clear and she said in her normal voice, "What just happened? I feel awfully strange."  
  
"You made a prediction." Numair said. "I believe it to be true."  
  
"Well," Rosefyre said very slowly, as if talking to someone very much stupider than she, "what did I predict?"  
  
"We'll tell you after it comes true." Daine said, hefting her long bow up.  
  
~*~  
  
A melodious female voice filled the ears of the two teens, the two men, and the young woman. "This is them?" The woman asked. She had a slight tinge of a French-like accent and she smelled of freshly picked mandarin oranges. "You expect these little children to be of use to me?"  
  
Vlad and Holden simply stared at the woman, mouths agape, Vlad drooling slightly. "They were snooping about in the castle." Holden said, regaining his composure and bowing. Vlad did the same, though less elegantly. Nell curtsied deeply.  
  
"I though they might be of some use." Nell said taking credit for what Vlad and Holden had thought. Vlad and Holden didn't notice, they were back to staring at the beautiful lady. "They might know the plans of their outside friends."  
  
"Even if I did know what they were planning, I would never tell." Spat Maddy. "I swear to that on the Z Sword, and on Mirai's sword!"  
  
"That's too bad." Said the woman, Jillian wondering what the hell Maddy was talking about. She decided that the girl was insane and continued, "I'm afraid we'll just torture you for no reason then."  
  
"Bring it on, bitch." Meron snarled. "I'm ready for you."  
  
"I seriously doubt it." Nell said. "Nobody's ready for Mistress Jillian, ruler this castle and of all the magic in Tortall!"  
  
"Or so you think." Maddy muttered under her breath.  
  
"You're in for it now!" Vlad remarked happily.  
  
"Nell, take these two to the north-north-east dungeons." Jillian said, admiring her inch-long fingernails. "Guard them closely. Don't you even let them breathe without your permission. I'll send somebody up when I want to start."  
  
"As you wish, my lady." Nell said, dropping into another curtsy. She then grabbed the two ropes that were tied around Maddy and Meron's necks in one hand, and grabbed the whip from Vlad with the other. Then she carefully led the two out the door, using the whip to make sure that they didn't come within two yards of her.  
  
~*~  
  
I really hope you liked it! It took me long enough to write certainly, and for that tiny little chapter. *Sigh* Ah well.  
  
Oh! I just saw The Two Towers! It was probably the best movie I have ever seen! IT WAS SO COOL! *Twitches* Must...see...again! Right now! *Runs off to find a theater that is open*  
  
Please leave a review, tell me what you think. And if you have ANY ideas, please, please email them too me. I'm honestly just making this up as I go along and I think I may have driven myself straight into a trap. *Sticks out her tongue and makes a face* Well, the point it; review.  
  
Lurve,  
  
LadyKnight  
  
P.S. Happy Non-Denominational Gift Giving Days! *Giggles* 


	22. In which mourning occurs and Cleon gets ...

Everyone stood around a smallish mound of dirt, heads bowed. Several of them were crying. Unfortunately, Liney and Gregory were both still unconscious, and Neal had to stay with them, so none of the three knew about Anne Marie and her untimely...death.  
  
"I'll tell them when...later." Kel said, eyes welled up with tears and doing her best not to let them stream. Dom put his arm around her. Kel looked at it for a moment and blew her nose in his sleeve.  
  
"Should we start to kill off the assholes who did this to her?" Peter asked, comforting Kate who was sobbing into his shirt.  
  
"In a moment, " Raoul said, laying a flower on the top of the mound of dirt. "May Anne Marie, our friend, rest in peace."  
  
"Numair, would you do the spell now?" Daine asked.  
  
Numair nodded solemnly and clapped his hands. The mound of dirt burst into flame and became ashes in seconds.  
  
"What did you do that for?" Kaitlin demanded, clutching a hand to her heart. "You scared the stuffing outta me!"  
  
"I'm guessing it's so nobody, like, desecrates her body or something." Rosefyre said knowledgably.  
  
"What's desecrates?" Asked Cleon.  
  
"That's right," said Alanna. "Mainly animals, but also Stormwings who might catch the lingering scent of decaying flesh."  
  
"What's desecrates?" Cleon asked again.  
  
"That's disgusting!" Krizsta cried. "Stormwings are just plain gross."  
  
"Most Stormwings are just plain gross." Corrected Maria, scratching her tail that wouldn't go away.  
  
"Whatever," said Krizsta, sticking out her tongue.  
  
"What's desecrates?" Cleon asked loudly, beginning to become highly annoyed.  
  
"So, should we begin to eliminate the evil dudes like Rosefyre said to do in her prediction thingy?" Diana asked.  
  
"Oh," Rosefyre sighed, "so that's what I predicted."  
  
George nodded. "Aye lassie. I also thing tha' we should get to doing it before they do." He gestured to the wall where several more archers had appeared.  
  
"What's desecrates?" Cleon yelled stomping his foot.  
  
"Time for revenge." Kate said narrowing her eyes to slits, but still not letting go of Peter's arm.  
  
Raoul turned to Raganas, Krizsta and Samkin. "Go brush and tack up some horses. Tack one up for me, Raganas, and Kriz, will you do one for Buri?"  
  
"Oh, and Samkin, when you finish go back to the woods and see if you can find one of two big flat rocks we can use to sharpen the spear points with." Buri added.  
  
"Yes Sir and Ma'am!" Samkin said hopping to attention and saluting.  
  
Raganas giggled and muttered, "You're weird, dude," to him has all three of them left.  
  
Cleon had completely given up on his trying to figure out what 'desecrates' meant and was sitting on the ground trying to spell it.  
  
"Kathryn, Marc, if you'll follow me, I'm going to teach you dagger tricks." George said. "It's always handy to have something to throw besides a kick or a punch."  
  
"Goody!" Kathryn cried. Wiping away her last tear. "I was wanting' to learn this stuff!"  
  
"I wanted to learn it more!" Marc said.  
  
"Uh-uh!"  
  
"Ya-huh!"  
  
"Uh-uh!"  
  
"Ya-huh!"  
  
"Uh-uh!"  
  
"Ya-huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!"  
  
Marc and Kathryn could be heard arguing with each other until George had led them out of earshot.  
  
"Slings!" Amy said.  
  
Olivia rushed up. "Ready for action, mum!"  
  
Caprice followed. "Present and accounted for!"  
  
Lady Light came last. "Um, guess who's back? Back again?"  
  
"Oooh!" Kaytee said leaping up and down, her hand raised. "I know! Call on me!"  
  
Lady Light stared at Kaytee for a second. "Uh, Kaytee?"  
  
"You're back!" Kaytee said happily. "Do I win something?"  
  
"No," Amy said. "Anyway, sling shooters, off to find rocks!" She herded her friends off toward the forest.  
  
"ACHOO!" Cleon sneezed. "Oops, I've sneezed on an anthill." He looked around happily and added, "Cool."  
  
"Do we have any food?" Asked Neal as he walked up. "I'm half starved." Neal definitely looked starved. His skin had acquired a slight gray tinge and he had large bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.  
  
Dom looked down at his cousin. "There's bread in the sack by that log there. Are Line and Gregory healed?"  
  
"Just finished," Neal said, cramming whole loaves of bread into his mouth. "They're sleeping now."  
  
"Oh," Alanna said patting her former squire on the back. She would have patted his shoulder, but she couldn't reach.  
  
"We should probably get back to practicing, if we're to attack soon." Maria said to Kel.  
  
"You're right." Kel said. "Swords! Come with me. We're going on horseback this time."  
  
Maria grabbed Kaitlin, who was slightly afraid of horses and dragged her over to a sweet chestnut gelding, while taking the brown bay mare on her left. Diana took the story gray mare with an attitude problem that was tied to a secluded tree. Raganas had tacked up a large black gelding of at least fifteen hands for herself and Raoul's large mare Amberfire for *AN: Bet you can't guess who she tacked up Raoul's horse for! Bet you can't guess!* Raoul. *AN: Whoa, how would you have ever guessed?* Krizsta had tacked up a stout brown mare for herself and a flea-bitten white stallion for Buri. Samkin had already finished tacking and brushing his mount, a black stallion with white socks, and was searching for a suitable rock in the forest. Kel and Alanna supervised while they tacked up Peachblossom and Alanna's new horse, Dusk, a gray-black stallion with a startlingly white mane.  
  
"Do we get to ride horses too?" Asked Kate, eyes wide and hopeful, but only after she tore them away from Neal, who she had decided, was very cute when tired. "I like horses."  
  
"I don't think you're ready for archery on horseback yet," Daine said. "Even though you are very good at regular archery. There's only so much help a horse can give."  
  
"Dommy! Dommy!" Cried Rosefyre. "Daine won't let us ride the horses!"  
  
"Yea, Nuncle Dom!" Peter said, catching on. "Make her be nice!" He pointed at Daine and stomped his foot for emphasis.  
  
Dom shifted uncomfortably. "Daine's the animal lady. I can't over rule her when it comes to that."  
  
Kate, Peter and Rosefyre pretended to pout, making Dom whine to Daine again. "Please?" He asked cutely.  
  
"No!" Daine said firmly. "And that's final. Let's go fletch some arrows or something.' She marched off, Dom and the three teens following at a jog.  
  
"But what am I supposed to do while everybody trains?" Asked Cleon.  
  
"Wait," Neal said, holding up a hand to silence Cleon, the completely ignored human bean. "Who's missing? Where's Anne Marie?"  
  
Numair put a hand on Neal's shoulder. "She was killed by the enemy. She challenged them, foolish girl, armed with nothing but a sword. The shot her."  
  
Neal's eyes teared up. "No!"  
  
"Yes!" Cleon said.  
  
"She will live on in out hearts and out minds." Numair said. "We must concentrate on other things."  
  
"Yes," Neal agreed, wiping his eyes.  
  
"You have to concentrate on your healing, Neal." Cleon said. "Like for me. I got this nasty boo-boo on my pinky finger." He showed Neal a cut the size of an ant.  
  
"Suffer through it." Said Liney, yawning and stretching. "It'll build character. Did I miss anything important when I was out?"  
  
"You have no idea," muttered Numair.  
  
~*~  
  
"You know what this place needs?" Maddy asked of nobody in particular. "Homey touches. You know, candles, curtains on the windows above the candles. Blankets next to the candles, but within reach of the flickering flame."  
  
"Do you have some sort of obsession with fire, Mads?" Meron asked, trying to ignore his leash, but not doing as well as Maddy.  
  
Maddy nodded happily. "Slap my ass and call me 'Pyro'!"  
  
"I don't really understand what you said but," Meron shrugged and reached out his hand.  
  
"It's not something you're actually supposed to do, hun." Maddy said, smartly. "It's similar to a rhetorical question but it's more of a statement than a question."  
  
"Are you feeling alright?" Meron asked. "It's just that sounded really...smart!"  
  
Maddy blinked and shook her head around a bit. "I'M AN AEROPLANE!" She screeched.  
  
"Oh," Meron said, gratefully. "I was afraid there for a second."  
  
How can these two, er, weird little kids be of any use to us? Nell thought. It's just one normal, slightly insane, lad and a normal, really insane, lass. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't hear what was being said.  
  
"Meron, have you got the Gift?" Maddy asked.  
  
"Not really." Meron said. "I can light matches and barely fires. But that's it."  
  
"Lightly the rug on fire." Maddy said, leaping up and down. "Please?"  
  
"Um, OK!" Said Meron happily. He pointed at the rug and it abruptly caught on fire.  
  
Nell was snapped from her thoughts. "Oh my!" She cried making the Sign against evil on her chest.  
  
"Hey lady," Maddy said. "Why are you fiddling with your breasts?"  
  
Nell blushed magenta. "I wasn't."  
  
"You were!" Maddy persisted.  
  
"I wasn't!" Nell said, tightening her hold on the whip.  
  
Meron noticed and kicked Maddy in the shin. "Shut up." He muttered in her ear.  
  
"OK!" Maddy said happily, starting to frolic around Nell in circles.  
  
"I choose not to comment on this." Nell said in a robotic tone. "Anyway, we're here." There was an empty prison cell with a barred gate. She herded Maddy and Meron in, without untying them. They could untie themselves but she didn't want to get near them.  
  
Once Nell had her back to the two teens Meron leaned over and hissed in Maddy's ear, "She's completely forgotten about the rug."  
  
~*~  
  
Yey and Verily! Although I have no idea what that means...I suppose it's good, it has 'yey' in it after all. Whatever. I hope you liked it! *Yawns from sleep deprivation* It took a really long time to write it, you know. Review please! I need at least ten more reviews until I continue, though that shouldn't be too hard, right guys? Right!  
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight 


	23. In which there is Hikka, Bikka, and Booi...

Liney yawned and stretched, walking over to rouse Gregory. She felt drops of wetness fall onto her face and body.  
  
"Eeeeeeek!" Screamed Kate, running over from where she had been practicing archery with her peers. "The sky is falling! The sky is falling! We're all going to die!"  
  
"Wha--?" Gregory said, stumbling out of his tent where he had been napping, before Liney had rudely awakened him.  
  
"It's just rain!" Liney said, following Gregory out of the tent.  
  
"Oh." Kate said, slightly embarrassed. She then started to walk back to the practice field, dragging her feet on the ground when she promptly tripped on a rock and fell flat on her face, knocking her out for a few moments.  
  
"Will the injuries never cease?" Neal cried throwing his hands up in despair.  
  
"Will she be okay?" Dom asked running over with Daine, Peter and Rosefyre.  
  
"She'll be fine." Neal said. "I know Kate, and she has an exceptionally hard head."  
  
Kate's eyes fluttered open and she stared up into Neal's bright green eyes. "I heard that."  
  
" O' course you did!" Peter said, tying his oblivious father's bootlaces together, chuckling happily.  
  
Rosefyre saw what Peter was doing and grinned happily. When Peter stood up winking at Rosefyre to signify that he had finished, Rosefyre's grin widened. "Hey, Neal, isn't that your horse trying to get free?"  
  
"What?" Neal asked. "Mages' Whisper?" He took (or tried to) take a step in the direction of the picketed horses and fell flat on his face.  
  
Everybody fell over from laughing. There was even a loud guffaw from Raoul who was over on the opposite side of the clearing. Neal blushed the color of a sun burned radish and began to berate his son.  
  
"Come on, dad!" Peter said. "You must admit it was funny. Even the horses are laughing."  
  
Neal glared at the horses, which swished their tails and decided to go back to munching on grass and other shrubbery.  
  
Raganas walked over with her horse. "I'm tired of just sitting here." She said. "Can we start the spar?"  
  
"Yeah!" Kaitlin said. "I want ta put my skills to use!"  
  
"So do I!" Lady Light, Caprice and Olivia cried at the exact same time.  
  
"Yes!" Krizsta said. "And we have to rescue Madz and Meron!"  
  
"Even if they are a bit weird." Samkin muttered.  
  
"Hey, at least they don't speak their own, weird, made-up language or anything!" Kathryn said.  
  
~*~  
  
"Hikka bikka boo?" Maddy asked.  
  
"Noki fromp." Meron replied with a slight shake of his head.  
  
Nell sighed and let them continue to converse in their own, weird, made-up language. They could do anything they wanted, as long as they were inside the cell, and she was outside.  
  
~*~  
  
"I don't want to fight right now!" Gregory said. "I just woke up." As if on cue he yawned loudly, swallowing a fly. "Aw! Disgusting!" He then proceeded to brush off his tongue with his fingers.  
  
"We have to fight," Liney wheedled. "If you fight I'll cook something for you! I'll catch a fish or something!"  
  
"You certainly know a way to a man's stomach, don't you lassie?" Gregory said. "Or is it his heart? Same thing."  
  
"Let's all get ready!" Maria said, latching her sword over her right shoulder and over her left hip, twisting the sword sheath so it lay flat across her back.  
  
"Let's have to food first!" Gregory said.  
  
"Yes!" Peter cried. "Food!"  
  
"Hey," Gregory said to Peter. "Nobody said anything about food for you. Liney, what are you going to make?"  
  
"Well, look, it doesn't seem like I'll need to run off and catch something after all!" Liney said, grinning broadly. "Here comes Kel with some, well, I can't properly make it out from all the way over here but it looks like hare!"  
  
"You knew she was coming!" Gregory said. "Cad! Bounder! Temptress!"  
  
"All those things I may be..." Liney said slowly. "But I haven't the slightest idea what a bounder is."  
  
"Frankly," Gregory confided in her, "nor do I, but it sounds really cool!"  
  
"Can we start fighting already?" Olivia asked, tapping her foot.  
  
Liney looked up and noticed almost everyone was staring at her and Gregory, that is, with the exception of Cleon who was trying to fit a pebble up his nose without prevail.  
  
"Kiss her already!" Screamed somebody, for it was impossible to tell.  
  
Liney looked up at Gregory, eyes big and sparkly, if that is at all possible. Gregory leaned down an inch or so and kissed her lightly on the nose.  
  
"What a rip off." Muttered Diana.  
  
"I'm sorry to put off your little smidgeon of entertainment for today but a few seconds ago you were all screeching at me to start fighting." Gregory said. "Let's bally well saved the kisses for after we've won!"  
  
"You're insane." Muttered Peter, winking broadly at Liney.  
  
"If we were in kicking distance," Liney said, "you'd be hopping about on one food, monsieur, so you'd better shut your cake hole!"  
  
"Peter's in trouble!" Amy said in a mocking tone. "You're in for it now, Petey-my-lad."  
  
Peter seriously looked nervous. "You aren't serious?"  
  
"You bet your life, bud." Kate said narrowing her eyes. "I know a lad, who knows a lass who knew a lad who once made fun of Liney."  
  
"Wha-at h-h-happened to-o h-him?" Cleon asked shivering.  
  
"Well, lets just say that they had to tie him together so that they didn't loose part of him in shipping." Kate said smiling triumphantly after spouting out this tangle of horrible lies, which Cleon, and pretty much everybody else with no brain, so never mind, just Cleon, completely believed. Maddy would have believed it completely, had she been present.  
  
Cleon screamed and covered his eyes. "Noo!"  
  
"Yes!" Said Kaytee, grinning and cackling maliciously.  
  
"And they were mad at us because we were prolonging the fight." Liney murmured to Gregory.  
  
Numair cleared his throat loudly. "Ahem!" No result. He tried again, louder. "AHEM!"  
  
Heads swiveled around to stare at Numair. "I say!" Said Rosefyre. "Are you coughing up a hair ball or something?"  
  
"No," Numair said, lowering his voice now that everybody, with the exception of Cleon once again, who was cowering at the fate of the lad who Liney had apparently chopped to bits, was paying attention to him. "I wanted to tell you all that it's about time we start fighting!"  
  
"Yeah!" Said Marc.  
  
"Double yeah!" Kathryn said.  
  
"Triple yeah!" Marc cried.  
  
"Quadruple yeah!" Kathryn yelled.  
  
"Yeah infinity!" Marc said, crossing his arms.  
  
"Yeah infinity plus one!" Kathryn said in retaliation.  
  
"Will you two shut up?" George asked. "We have enough fights without you two bickering over everything that's even remotely bicker-able!  
  
"Well, when you put it that way..." Said Marc. Then he cried, obviously fake, "I'm so sorry Kathryn!" And he pulled her into a tight hug.  
  
Kathryn shoved him with a trick she had learned from George and sent him sprawling. "Sucker," she muttered.  
  
"That wasn't very nice!" Diana said.  
  
"Yeah!" Said Marc, sticking out his tongue childishly.  
  
"You're not being the prince of kindness either, Marc!" Olivia said. "Now apologize so we can continue with out meaningless lives!"  
  
"Sorry." Muttered Kathryn, not sounding sorry in the least.  
  
"I'm so sorry!" Marc cried femininely.  
  
"Marc, you're embarrassing us." Gregory said.  
  
Peter nodded. "Get a grip."  
  
"Sorry," muttered Marc.  
  
"Now that that's over," Daine said, "we can fight! Archers make a row, slings stand behind them. On my command fire and duck, then the next row shoots. That way we can have a steady rain of arrows and stones. They won't know what hit 'em"  
  
"Okay," said Peter, dragging Kate and Rosefyre over to the afore mentioned log. Lady Light, Olivia, Caprice and Amy followed. Kaytee ran around trying to find rocks.  
  
"Raganas, Samkin, Krizsta, grab your mounts and pop on up there." Raoul said.  
  
"And don't forget your spears!" Buri said. "Raganas, you're stirrup is too long, fix it!"  
  
"Sorry marm." Said Raganas, bending over in the saddle to adjust her stirrup while Samkin held her spear for her. She straightened when she had finished. "Can I have my spear back now?" She asked Samkin, hand extended.  
  
"No!" Said Samkin with an evil little chuckle. "Come and get it!"  
  
Raganas gave Samkin a look that would have made Napoleon screech run for cover. Samkin shuddered and handed over the spear.  
  
"Swords! Grab your horse and mount!" Alanna bellowed.  
  
Diana grabbed the horse she had previously tacked and swung up. Maria and Kaitlin followed suit, as did Kel and Alanna.  
  
"That just leaves you two." Said George. "And I have half a mind not to let you fight, after all, all you do is argue."  
  
"Please!" Said Marc. "We'll be good! I promise!"  
  
"We'll be perfect!" Kathryn said.  
  
"Please!" The both said in unison looking up at George sadly.  
  
"Fine!" George cried, throwing up his hands. "But I don't want you going anywhere near the actual soldiers. You will throw daggers from SAFE DISTANCE! Got it?"  
  
"Yes sir." Marc and Kathryn agreed meekly.  
  
"One, two, three ATTACK!" Yelled Kel.  
  
And the fight began.  
  
~*~  
  
Nell had dozed off when she was aroused by a young lady, probably the same age as Nell, perhaps younger, with shoulder-length black hair, black eyes and a happy expression, especially for one working at the jail cells.  
  
"Huh?" Nell said, being jerked from her slumber. "Oh, hullo Cat."  
  
"Hello to you!" Said the lady, Cat. "Bryan sent me. Jillian wants these two." She jerked her thumb at Maddy and Meron.  
  
"Cat!" Cried Maddy.  
  
Cat jerked around. "What?"  
  
"I like your name."  
  
"Um, Thank you."  
  
Meron and Nell blinked as Maddy and Cat snapped out of their semi- friendship. "That was strange." Meron said softly to Maddy.  
  
Maddy smiled. "I think she's nice. She won't hurt us like Vlad and Holden did. They were dickheads."  
  
Meron laughed loudly. "You're a strange lass, Maddy, that you are."  
  
"If happy hour is over, do you think you could hold still for a minute?" Nell said, fitting a rope around Meron's neck, and another around Maddy's. "I don't want to strangle you before Jillian has the chance."  
  
"Jillian's going to strangle us?" Meron asked.  
  
"I missed happy hour?" Maddy asked.  
  
"In answer to your question, boy, I don't know what Jillian's going to do." Cat said. "She's always different. And in answer to the little insane girl's question: happy hour? What are you, six?"  
  
"Actually, I'm fourteen." Maddy said grinning happily.  
  
Nell sighed. "Don't make friends with them, Cat!"  
  
"Sorry." Said Cat, scuffing her foot.  
  
And together the two young women dragged the lad and the lass to their mistress.  
  
~*~  
  
Huzzo! That was actually fun to write! *Dances around her numerous candles, chanting with Goku and Cleon to the Cry Me A River song by Justin Timberlake* Hm, I don't even like that song. Yet, it is stuck in my head! *Proceeds to whack her head with a mallet* Review, you know the drill.  
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight 


	24. In which there is impatience

"Twang! Twang! Twang!" Kate sang happily, clapping her hands to the beat. "The bows go twang, twang, twang!"  
  
"Yes they do, Kate." Said Rosefyre in a tone she should have reserved for a puppy that had just learned how to sit on command. She picked up and arrow that had the arrowhead broken off. "Here's a stick! Go fetch the stick!" She then chucked the "stick" in the general direction of the fire- circle.  
  
"What do you think I am?" Kate asked, giving Rosefyre a funny look.  
  
"Ow!" Cleon yelled as the arrow hit him on the head. "Who threw that? My brain is in pain! Boo hoo! That really hur-" Suddenly his eyes rolled up and he fell over. No more said, completely unconscious.  
  
"Don't worry, hun." Liney said, patting the unconscious Cleon on the arm reassuringly. "It's probably just a little bad karma."  
  
"Oh!" Gregory exclaimed stepping nimbly over the fainted Cleon. "Is that that inner chi thang?"  
  
"Probably!" Liney said happily. "You wanna spar?"  
  
"Now, now, you two." Numair said. "I told you not to fight. You aren't properly trained in any of the weapons we have and you still aren't fully recovered yet."  
  
"I meant with each other." Liney said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"I got one!" Olivia yelled triumphantly, standing up, doing a little dance and waving her sling around happily.  
  
"Sit down!" Kaytee said, yanking Olivia to the ground by tugging on the back of her shirt. "And watch where you're waving your weapon."  
  
"Sorry." Olivia said, blushing slightly.  
  
"You should be sorry!" Any said waving her arms around. "You could have been shot! You could have been killed! You could have been killed and shot!"  
  
"Or worse," Lady Light said, "You could have been shot and killed."  
  
"That's what she said!" Caprice cried. "Wait, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes," said Lady Light. "I just thought it needed to be emphasized a little more."  
  
"They're opening the gates!" Yelled Alanna.  
  
"They're opening the gates!" Repeated Maria. She then paused and frowned, glancing nervously at the slowly opening gates. "They really are!"  
  
"Well, duh." Diana said, sighing exasperatedly.  
  
"Will somebody get my horse for me?" Kaitlin asked, shivering slightly.  
  
Kel sighed and shook her head. "You've got no problems with fighting a big war, but you still get skittish around horses. I don't get it."  
  
"I've had bad experiences with horses." Kaitlin said shyly.  
  
"And you haven't had bad experiences with war?" Raganas asked.  
  
"Well...yes...but horses are freaky!" Kaitlin cried. "And bad experiences really stick you know, especially ones that really hurt."  
  
"Well, if at first you don't succeed try, try again." Samkin said.  
  
"I prefer, if at first you don't succeed, don't try to fly." Krizsta said happily.  
  
"Yeah..." Samkin said, "I guess that would work too."  
  
"I wish I had a tail." Kate remarked out of the blue, still firing arrows at deadly accuracy. "It'd be so cool." She glanced forlornly at her tail- less rear, as if willing a tail to just pop up.  
  
"I have a tail." Peter teased, snickering. "Do you want to see my tail?"  
  
"You most certainly do not have a tai-" Kate stopped mid-argument. "That's disgusting, Peter!"  
  
"We always get them with that, don't we?" Marc said, punching Peter playfully in the shoulder.  
  
Peter fell over with the impact of the punch. "Marc!" He yelled. "Don't do that!"  
  
"Marc!" Kathryn yelled. "Don't do that! Idiot."  
  
"Geez," Marc said. "At least Peter was sort of nice about it."  
  
"Feh!" Kathryn remarked simply.  
  
"Feh yourself." Marc said, sticking out his tongue.  
  
"Stop arguing and get back to fighting!" George shouted. "And don't take your eyes off your target."  
  
"Anybody going into the herding masses, let us depart now from are humble set." Dom said with an artistic flourish.  
  
"Don't get your pantyhose in a bunch." Krizsta said.  
  
"Yeah, and why are you riding out?" Asked Daine. "You're an archer."  
  
"Yes, but I'm an experienced archer." Dom said, becoming very full of himself, if I do say so myself. Indeed!  
  
"I told you to not get your pantyhose in a bunch!" Krizsta said prodding Dom in the chest.  
  
"I DON'T WEAR PANTYHOSE!" Screamed Dom, so loudly that mating birds in the nearby trees cheeped alarms and took flight.  
  
"I should hope not, lad." Raoul said, mounting his horse.  
  
"Well are you going or are you going to sit around like boobs all day?" Olivia asked.  
  
"Well, personally I'd choose to be a boob, but well," Gregory said with a sigh, "duty calls, eh?" He grabbed a nearby horse and attempted to clamber onto it's back.  
  
"Oh no you don't, laddie buck." Liney said grabbing Gregory's leg and yanking him back to the ground.  
  
"Oof!" Gregory said landing on top of something vaguely squishy. "What is this thing?" He said, poking at it.  
  
"It's me you idiot!" Liney yelled at Gregory, causing him to fall over.  
  
"Whatever," Maria said. "I'm off." She grabbed the horse she had tacked up earlier and her sword and galloped into the mass of approaching enemies."  
  
"Wait for me!" Yelled Diana and Kel, climbing up onto their horses and following after Maria.  
  
"I'll just stay here and keep a watch on things," Kaitlin said trying to inch toward the fire circle.  
  
Cleon popped up out of oblivion. "Hi Kaitlin. What's going on?"  
  
Kaitlin screamed and leaped four feet in the air, having been scared out of her wits by the sudden awakening of Mister Cleon.  
  
"See how much better it is out there than here?" Alanna wheedled.  
  
"Fine!" Kaitlin yelled sobbing from fear.  
  
"Well then lets get a move on!" Alanna yelled whistling to call Dusk and swinging up onto his back.  
  
Kaitlin inched slowly up to her horse and got up nimbly carefully nudging her horse into a slow trot. She followed Alanna at that speed until she was in the middle of the brawl.  
  
Raoul grabbed Raganas and threw her onto a horse and did the same with Samkin. He reached over to do the same with Krizsta but she declined politely and went to mount up herself. Raoul shrugged and chucked Buri onto her horse before leaping onto his with the force of a raging train. Fortunately his horse was trained to withstand that so no injuries occurred.  
  
"Lets go kick some ass." Krizsta said, narrowing her eyes to slits.  
  
"Okey dokes!" Raoul said happily. "And away we go!"  
  
"Catch me if you can!" Buri said, galloping over a charging soldier and taking his war axe.  
  
"ELLUAIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Yelled Raganas. "That's my new battle cry, don't ya know." She added to Samkin and Krizsta.  
  
"Okay then!" Samkin said taking up the cry. "ELLUAIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! This is a nice little battle cry."  
  
"Thank you." Raganas said, nodding to him.  
  
"Hey!" Rosefyre yelled. "I think I got somebody important!"  
  
"Why do you think that?" Asked Caprice.  
  
"He was wearing a feathered hat." Rosefyre said, as if stating the obvious. "Feathers are obviously signs of high rank."  
  
"Of course." Caprice said wondering why on earth she didn't know something as obvious as that.  
  
Meanwhile, Gregory and Liney were getting very impatient. Gregory had even taken up pacing in circles around the still semi-dazed Cleon.  
  
"I can't just sit here!" Growled Liney. "What am I supposed to do while they fight? Sit here and knit? I don't even know how to knit!"  
  
"Yes," Numair said, thoughtfully, "you don't strike me as a knitter."  
  
"That's good." Liney snarled. "Knitting's for chumps." (AN: Sorry to any knitters, it's just her personality, k?)  
  
"Augh!" Screamed Kaitlin. "That hurt you bastard! And I need that arm, too!" She then stabbed viciously at the offending soldier, killing him.  
  
"I don't want to be here, either." Kathryn said. "I'm not a watcher! I'm a fighter! A fighter, I tell you!"  
  
"We believe you." Marc said patting her shoulder.  
  
"Damn, I can't just watch." Gregory said. "I've got to fight!"  
  
"You can't." Neal said. "Not yet at least. You'll get your turn to shine."  
  
"That was possibly the corniest thing I have heard the entire day." Liney said glaring disdainfully at Neal.  
  
"Well sorry." Neal said sarcastically.  
  
"I think it was thought provoking." Cleon said striking a pose.  
  
"Whoa." Marc said. "I'm scared."  
  
Cleon shook his head slightly and yelled, "FERRET!"  
  
"Never mind." Marc said.  
  
~*~  
  
"Keep your heads down." Cat advised dragging Meron on his leash. "People are shooting at us apparently. Oh, hullo Bryan." She added to an approaching young man about their age. "You've gotten a new hat I see."  
  
"Do you like it?" Bryan asked. "I think it makes me look high-ranked."  
  
"What's with the feather?" Nell asked, sneering.  
  
Bryan looked sad. "You don't like it?"  
  
"It's fine." Nell said, narrowly being missed by an arrow that zipped by her head.  
  
Bryan, sadly, was not so lucky. The arrow struck him in the throat. With a final gurgle his eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped to the ground, dead as a doornail.  
  
"Talk about your bad karma!" Maddy remarked.  
  
"Huh?" Asked Meron.  
  
"I don't know!" Maddy piped up, gleefully. "I wish I had a cinnamon bun."  
  
"That's why I love you!" Meron said frizzing up her hair. "So spontaneous and weird."  
  
"That seems a reason to avoid someone," Nell muttered in Cat's ear. "Not to love them."  
  
Cat shrugged. "Whatever floats their boat." At that another arrow clipped her arm. "Maybe we should get moving."  
  
"That's probably a good idea." Nell said.  
  
"Well, I'm just chock full of 'em." Cat said. "Those good idea things."  
  
"Can I go to the bathroom?" Maddy asked hopping up and down, her legs crossed. "It's a 'mergency."  
  
"No, you may not go to the bathroom." Nell said.  
  
"Please!" Maddy cried. "I really have to go!"  
  
"Fine!" Nell cried, exasperatedly. "Follow me and hurry up!" She dragged Maddy off toward a small chamber pot in the corner.  
  
"I'm not going in that!" Maddy cried. "That's disgusting."  
  
"Beggars can't be choosers." Meron reminded her.  
  
"Feh." Maddy said, sticking out her tongue. "Turn around. No peeping!" She then proceeded to squat down above the chamber pot to do her, erm, business. "Done." She remarked, pulling up her breeches and straightening her shirt.  
  
"Okey doke!" Meron said, smiling. He had peeped, but he wasn't about to fill Maddy in on that. (AN: Disgusting male! Feh! Hehe.)  
  
"Well, let's get a move on!" Cat said, beginning to feel slightly agitated.  
  
~*~  
  
I hope you guys liked that. It took me FOREVER to write. *Slumps onto the keyboard as Goku, Inuyasha and Miroku prop her back up* Thanks guys.  
  
Goku: No problemo!  
  
Inuyasha: Feh.  
  
Don't you feh me, buddy! *Glares at Miroku* And don't even attempt your little "tricks." And Goku! Get smarter! *Goes on a wild war page*  
  
Miroku: Ooh, you'd better review. Fighting's feeble when she's in a rage like this. *Cowers under the table with Goku and Inuyasha*  
  
*Smiles sweetly* Please review. *Snarls*  
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight, Miroku, Inuyasha, and Goku 


	25. In which there is screaming, which is ru...

"More than slightly annoyed, I am." Liney said tapping her foot on a rock that actually turned out to be Cleon's head. "And now wondering why your head is under my foot, Cleon, you moron, I am."  
  
"Highly annoyed, I am." Kathryn said. "Plus, also, thinking that Cleon is insane, I am."  
  
"More annoyed and thinking that Cleon is devoid of all sanity than both of you put together so ha, ha, I am."  
  
"Drop dead sexy and unconcerned, I am." Gregory said ruffling his hair in what he though was a seductive way.  
  
"Not completely insane, I am!" Said Cleon, pouting, and writing banana in the dirt with his finger.  
  
"I'm leaving." Numair sighed. "You all give me the heebie-jeebies."  
  
"I'm hungry." Neal said, standing up to follow Numair. "Do you have anything to eat? Do you, Numy, huh, huh? Do you?"  
  
Numair glared at Neal and said in a slow but poisonous tone, "Do you wish to be an apple, orange or cherry tree, Master Nealan?"  
  
Neal tried to laugh but it came out a hoarse cough. "You aren't serious are you? I'm your friend, Numnums! Remember?"  
  
Numair snarled. "If it didn't cause some tree in another part of the realm to become a human-"  
  
Liney had a strange mental image of a naked man running through a city waving tree branches around.  
  
"-I would." Numair finished.  
  
"If you need me I'll be bashing my head in with a rock, hoping for amnesia. And I'll be doing this...over there." Liney said pointing to the opposite end of the clearing.  
  
"Why would you want that?" Asked Gregory. "I don't-oh. You just don't like me, that's it? Isn't it?"  
  
"You smell kinda bad." Kathryn said.  
  
"Well, we all do!" Gregory cried, throwing his hands up. "None of us have bathed in, like, five days!"  
  
"Serious?" Asked Marc. "That's a record I think."  
  
"You really have no life, do you, Marc?" Liney asked narrowing her eyes at him.  
  
"Kathryn, Marc," George said, walking up to them and interrupting their lovely little conversation. "I hope you aren't trying for amnesia, too, because I'm sending you in there."  
  
"You're not serious?" Marc cried, his voice cracking when he said 'serious'.  
  
"Finally hit puberty, have we?" Kathryn asked shooting Marc an amused glare. "Good on you, chum."  
  
"I'll have you know that I'm fifteen years old." Marc pouted. "I crossed that bridge awhile ago, thank you. I'm just excited, is all."  
  
Numair rushed by, followed by Neal. Both of them looked worried.  
  
"What's the matter?" George asked.  
  
"Somebody on your side's hurt really badly." Neal said. "I don't know who, I just know somebody is. I don't know how either."  
  
"Wow." Gregory said. "How do you know?"  
  
"He just said he doesn't know how." George said.  
  
"He probably smelled it." Kathryn said. "He does kinda have a big nose."  
  
"But I thought people could only smell big smells." Said Liney. "Like flowers and dinner and major B.O."  
  
"Um, I, well, that's right, Liney." Numair said. "But I have the Gift remember. And it alerts me of things like this. Yeah that's it. And I do not have a big nose."  
  
"Yes you do." Kathryn retorted. "That's final!"  
  
"Damn it!" Yelled Marc. "It looks like we aren't going to get to fight after all. They're all coming back."  
  
"They're not running, though, so we must have won!" Gregory said clapping his hand and doing a little victory dance around Neal and Numair.  
  
"I'm going to set up be that stream." Neal said, pointing. "Sent the sick people over to me. Also send me a messenger to say how many are sick." With that he hurried off to clear a spot of rubble, rocks and sticks so he could work there.  
  
Alanna came forward, still on Dusk. Neither of them looked to be in any great harm but Dusk had a gash on his muzzle and Alanna's leg was cut from her ankle to her knee through her breeches.  
  
"We've won." She said meekly.  
  
"And yet you don't look overjoyed." Numair said as George helped his wife down from her mount.  
  
"When the fighting got to where the archers and sling-shooters were, well, you know how it's hard to fight at close range with those weapons-" Alanna broke off to take a few racking breaths, "They didn't turn out immaculate."  
  
"Deaths?" George managed to croak.  
  
"None." Alanna said grimly. "Yet. Kate's the worst off; she was practically scalped by a rider with an axe. She's out cold. Olivia's pretty bad, too. She's got a huge chunk out of her shoulder. Also unconscious from blood-loss, but I tell you, she was fighting until she fell over."  
  
Raoul followed, carrying Kaitlin. "And Kaitlin fainted, too."  
  
"What happened to her?" Numair asked, concerned. "Why did she faint?"  
  
"Don't worry, Numair," Raganas, patting his head from on top of her horse. "She's not hurt, bad."  
  
Buri smiled. "She's just not cut out for war." She said. "Let's leave it at that."  
  
Samkin smirked. "She freaked out when Olivia's arm spewed blood and fainted. It was pretty cool, though. She did completely clobber a soldier with her head when she slumped over."  
  
"That's cool?" Asked Rosefyre, sticking out her tongue in disgust and sitting down nimbly and trying to stop her knee flowing blood.  
  
Liney remembered something as she watched redness flow out of Rosefyre's joint and soak the piece of cloth she was holding to it. "Who's injured, raise your hand. Raise it high." Liney said.  
  
Rosefyre, Diana, Maria, Krizsta, Lady Light and Caprice raised their hands. Diana, with some help from Krizsta because both of her arms where completely covered in gashes.  
  
Liney counted. "That's seven. Plus Kaitlin, Kate and Olivia. Nine." She hurried off to report to Neal.  
  
"Where's she hurrying off to?" Asked Maria.  
  
"How would I know?" Peter asked. "She's a strange one."  
  
"Don't insult her!" Gregory snarled. "She's smarter than you."  
  
"Oh!" Peter said in a mocking tone. "Gregory's got himself a girlfriend!"  
  
"That's a bad thing?" Asked Samkin.  
  
Meanwhile, Liney had reached Neal and was gasping for breath while sitting on the ground with a particularly sharp rock sticking into her thigh. She stopped panting, picked up the rock and chucked it at Neal for no apparent reason.  
  
"Ow!" Neal cried, massaging his chest where the rock had hit him. "Why did you do that?"  
  
"No reason." Liney said. "You were just getting on my nerves."  
  
"Great, thanks, Liney." Neal said sarcastically.  
  
"You're very welcome."  
  
"Yeah, whatever." Neal said. "How many were injured?"  
  
"There were, um, wait, don't tell me." Liney paused. What's the stupid number, she thought. What the hell is it?  
  
"Be right back." She told Neal and started to run back across to the gathering of people. She stopped, though, halfway there and turned around remembering "nine." She hurried back to Neal and said, "Nine!"  
  
"Thank you." Neal said, laying out the exact number of herbs he would need to assist each of the people in getting over their injuries.  
  
"Yeah, only that's a hard number to remember, Nealan." Liney said, putting her hands on her hips. "On account of I keep forgetting the nine."  
  
"Yes, of course." Neal said waving Liney off with a gesture of his hand. "Could you send them over, on horses maybe."  
  
"You still haven't said the magic word." Liney said, still pouting.  
  
"Please?"  
  
"No!" Liney exclaimed. "That's such a boring word. Why would I pick that? I was thinking more along the lines of 'Argiviki.'"  
  
"Is that a real word?" Neal asked. "Never mind. Just go get them."  
  
"Fine, fine Mister Pushy-Pants." Liney said, stalking away.  
  
Kel sighed. What was taking Liney so long? It was barely thirty yards to where Neal was. "Hey, Neal!" She yelled, hands cupped around her mouth. "Why're you taking so long?"  
  
"Sorry!" Neal shouted back.  
  
"Stop screaming!" Lady Light screamed. "It's impolite!"  
  
"I was just trying to tell Neal that we caught a prisoner." Kel Bellowed.  
  
"What's her name, again?" Asked Maria. "Did she say?"  
  
"Isn't it Cass?" Asked Krizsta, holding her bleeding head in one of her hands. "I'm afraid I'm not quite sure, though. Head injures really don't help one's memory."  
  
"No, no." Daine said. "Her name's Cat."  
  
~*~  
  
Maddy, Meron, Cat and Nell arrived at an old oak door covered in gold designs. Cat and Nell looked nervous and Meron was just as equally fidgety. Maddy, however, was entranced by the gold designs on the door.  
  
"Shiny." Maddy murmured. "I like the shiny."  
  
Nell leaned forward to knock on the door. "You're a strange one, Maddy. I'm sorry that Jillian's going to have to kill you."  
  
"I she doesn't blow you up with all the magic she's gained." Cat said, flinching.  
  
A woman opened the door slowly. "Hello there, Cat, Nell." She said. "And hello to our two very special guests." She turned back to Cat and Nell. "I'll only need one of you. Cat, go back and help the Bryan with the enemies."  
  
"Well, you see, the think about Bryan-" Cat started.  
  
"I didn't ask for an explination." Jillian said, smiling sweetly. "Just go!"  
  
Cat turned around and scurried out the door as fast as she could. She closed the door behind her and could be heard running down the hall.  
  
"How are you two?" Jillian asked Meron and Maddy.  
  
"Good," said Maddy. "Except maybe you're going to explode us. Which wouldn't be very good, I don't think."  
  
Jillian laughed and shot a glare at Nell, who cowered. "You're not going to explode! Why would you think that?" She continued to glare at Nell, who was making herself as small as possible without actually curling into a ball.  
  
"You're not going to hurt us?" Meron asked. "That's a relief. We were told that you were going to torture us."  
  
"Well, I'm not." Jillian said.  
  
"Great!" Maddy said. "We'll just be leaving then."  
  
"I don't think you will be." Jillian said. She said a word not in any language and fuchsia flames sprouted by the doorway, licking the door, but not causing it to catch flame.  
  
"But you're not going to do anything to us!" Meron exclaimed. "So why stay?"  
  
"Yeah!" Maddy said, agreeing. "What's the point of it anyway."  
  
Jillian smiled. "I'm not going to hurt you." She said.  
  
"Yeah, except you've already told us that detail." Maddy said, tapping her foot.  
  
"As long as you answer my questions." Jillian finished, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
~*~  
  
Looky there, a cliffy. That is because I only got SEVEN MEASLY REVIEWS! *Fumes* Thank you very much to those who did review. And they are:  
  
Hyacinth-You'll have a personality soon enough...And a quite important part, if I do say so myself. And I do. So there!  
  
LadyKnight-Why that's me! Wow!  
  
Dusthorsie-Thankies, muchas!  
  
Silver Dagger-*Points and laughs* Liney's a knitter! Liney's knitter! Hehe, JK.  
  
Raganas-I know! I know! I sorry. *Big puppy eyes* And actually it's Samkim, I do believe. I think. I love those books.  
  
Rosefyre-I will finish this, even if only for myself. I'm dedicatedly cool that way. Haha!  
  
Chavi West-Wind-I didn't steal him! *Shoves Inu in the closet* Of course I didn't!  
  
Hehe! Anyway, I'm hoping for substantially more reviews this time, thank you! Feh! Oh yeah, and I hope you enjoyed it, too.  
  
Luv,  
  
LadyKnight  
  
P.S. I will soon be changing my pen name to Insane Kitten. Be ready, ya'll. 


	26. In which injuries are healed and the vil...

Hey, before we start, I just want to explain something. Kay? *Readers chuck dictionaries, scissors and gigantic geography map books at Maddy* Meep! *Ducks as an Encyclopedia Britannica flies over her head* Geez! I just want to say that whatever's happening with Me'n Meron is starting at the same time that whatever's happening with everybody else starts. One isn't after or before the other. Got it? Goody! On with the show! Erm, story.  
  
~*~  
  
"OUCH!" Cat shouted. "Could you tie me any tighter?" She added sarcastically.  
  
"Substantially, yes." Raoul said.  
  
Cat glared at the large man and lashed out at him with her foot, hitting him squarely in the shin. She smiled triumphantly and blinked at Raoul as if to say, 'it wasn't on purpose, I swear!'  
  
Raoul pulled the rope extra tight, binding Cat to a large tree, and tied the knot. "There," he said, "That should keep you."  
  
"Meanie." Cat muttered, trying futilely to kick Raoul again.  
  
Rosefyre groaned. "Are we going to get help or what? Because I'm not really up to bleeding to death here."  
  
"You're going to die?" Asked Krizsta. "Oh no! Rose's going to die! Somebody save her before she croaks!"  
  
"I'm not going to die." Rosefyre said, softly.  
  
"You're going to die?" Maria asked, overhearing. "Oh no! Why hasn't anybody helped you? Because it's not good if you die!" She screamed and attempted to run around, but fell over because of a huge gash from her knee to her ankle.  
  
"I'M NOT GOING TO DIE, DAMMIT!" Rosefyre yelled.  
  
"Now what did I tell you about screaming?" Lady Light asked.  
  
"I can see to a few people," said Neal, he picked up Kate. "Could you grab Olivia, Raoul, and Rosefyre, can you walk? I heard somebody say you were dying."  
  
Rosefyre glared daggers at Neal and stood up, wobbling slightly. "I can walk." She followed Raoul, Olivia, Neal and Kate, leaning on Raoul for support.  
  
"Shouldn't you see to Kaitlin?" Diana asked. "As she's fainted!"  
  
"She's not hurt, though." Numair said. "It's best if she regains consciousness on her own, instead of with magical aid."  
  
"I get a word of that." Cleon said. "Do you have a translator button or something?"  
  
Numair pursed his lips, looking more like an old lady than a middle-aged man.  
  
"Hahaha!" Laughed Peter, "You look more like an old lady than a middle- aged man! Hahaha!"  
  
"You look like someone though," Kathryn said. "I'll think of it later."  
  
"Hey guess what!" Liney exclaimed.  
  
"What?" Raganas asked, bored, just barely staying awake. Occasionally she closed her eyes and drifted off slightly.  
  
"You know, I thought of something, but then I forgot." Liney said sounding disappointed. "So, the end I suppose."  
  
Alanna frowned and looked like she was eating something sour, "Why can't you ever remember these things? It was probably something important."  
  
"That's who you looked like, Numair!" Kathryn yelled triumphantly. "You looked like Alanna!"  
  
Numair and Alanna looked at Kathryn sourly. Kathryn looked at them and scuttled over to hide behind Marc. "Could you loosen up on my kidneys, Kath?" Marc asked.  
  
"Sorry," Kathryn said loosening her safety grip on Marc's middle.  
  
"Hold that thought," Marc said, turning and running off, "I really need to take a piss now!"  
  
"Thanks for that wonderful little tidbit of information." Caprice said, grimacing.  
  
"Ooh, I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach by a horse, or a rather large dog." Kaitlin said, blinking several times in rapid succession to clear her vision. She turned to Diana, "now who are you?"  
  
"I'm-um-the angel of death." Diana said, thinking quickly. "You're dead. So sorry about that."  
  
"This is heaven?" Kaitlin asked. "What a disappointment."  
  
"Don't make me sit on your head." Maria said. "It's as clean as I could get it."  
  
"I'm not insulting your cleaning, marm," Kaitlin apologized quickly, "just that I thought heaven would be more, you know, snazzy."  
  
"SOCK PUPPETS!" Yelled Kate, still unconscious.  
  
"Nothing's wrong!" Neal shouted, "everything's perfectly under control! Kate is not going absolutely loony and I don't need any help!"  
  
"You're not actually dead, Kaitlin," Kaytee said, "but you were knocked out for a bit."  
  
"Oh." Kaitlin said. "That just dries the fun outta everything, don't it?"  
  
"Yes, it does." Lady Light agreed, "but on recent news I hear that Kate has gone absolutely loony and Neal needs some help."  
  
"Why didn't he say so?" Alanna exclaimed.  
  
"Well, with him, you haveta read between the lines a little." Peter said. "Boy, do you ever. It drives Mom up the wall."  
  
"Yeah," Samkin said, "it's fun to watch."  
  
"Yeah, I would like to see Yuki go crazy." Raganas said, nodding.  
  
Kate regained consciousness immediately. There was a faint but constant growling noise coming from the back of her throat and if she were a dog she might have frothed at the mouth. "Did somebody say 'Yuki'?" She asked slowly but in a deadly tone, raking glares over everyone.  
  
"That was me." Raganas said, happily oblivious.  
  
"What's the matter with my wife?" Neal asked Kate softly, stroking Kate's hair out of her eyes.  
  
Kate was instantly subdued. "Nothin'."  
  
"Are you okay?" Peter asked walking up behind his father, accidentally trodding upon Olivia's uninjured arm.  
  
Olivia awoke with a start. "Don't make me eat you," she said to Peter, smacking his leg with her still injured arm.  
  
"Don't move that arm anymore!" Alanna cried. "You'll only make it worse. I'll help you as soon as I'm done with Rosefyre."  
  
"Yeah," Diana said, "because if Alanna doesn't help Rose, Rose's gonna die!"  
  
"Serious?" Olivia asked. "Can we burn her carcass if she does croak?"  
  
"That's just gross, Snolive," Liney said. "Besides, we don't have any more flint."  
  
"I'm not going to die!" Snarled Rosefyre.  
  
"One can never be sure about these things." Marc said.  
  
"Well that's you done, Miss." Alanna said, patting Rosefyre's leg on which there was only a long scar extending from her thigh to the middle of her shin. Alanna gestured for Olivia to step over and get her shoulder healed.  
  
"Wow, I didn't even feel it!" Rosefyre exclaimed.  
  
"Yeah and I didn't hear and screams of intense agony!" Cleon cried.  
  
"And I didn't even know you knew those words!" Kel called out.  
  
"I didn't either." Cleon said. "I surprise myself sometimes."  
  
"That's okay," Caprice said twirling her finger in a circle around the left side of her head to imitate just exactly what she thought of Cleon.  
  
"Well, what do we do now?" Dom asked Numair. "We aren't supposed to fight anymore, are we?"  
  
"No," Numair said, "I don't think so."  
  
"Then what do we do?" Lady Light asked. "The suspense is tearing me apart!"  
  
Krizsta yawned. "Not me," she said, "I'm going to sleep, see you tomorrow."  
  
"But Kriz, it's the afternoon!" Samkin told her.  
  
"I know that." Krizsta said back, "but I'm tired. So, toodles!" She stood up, brushed imaginary dirt off her breeches and walked to a tent. She opened the flap and crawled inside. After a few minutes her snores could be heard, slow, easy and unconcerned.  
  
Gregory snickered. "Krizsta snores."  
  
"No?" Kate asked sarcastically, "Really?"  
  
"You really can't hear her?" Gregory asked, completely serious. "Wow, it sounds like somebody's pulling down a bridge!"  
  
"I think she was being sarcastic." Samkin said.  
  
Gregory did some quick thinking. "Yes...I was just, erm, testing you! That's it. Testing you."  
  
Amy opened one eye from her meditative state. "Could you all possibly squabble over there?" She asked. "I'm trying to concentrate."  
  
"It's that inner chi thing all over again, isn't it?" Maria asked. "Great."  
  
"That's you done, too!" Alanna said to Olivia. "Be easy on that arm for a day. No heavy lifting, no sling-shooting, things like that."  
  
"No sex." Dom said, with all seriousness.  
  
"Damn." Olivia said, grinning.  
  
"Who else is hurt?" Neal asked. "Lady Light, pop on over here for a sec."  
  
Lady Light walked over to Neal and removed her hand from a bleeding part of her stomach. Her hand was vivid red from the blood that had flowed onto it. She grinned sheepishly at Neal, "It doesn't hurt. It's just not very stylish."  
  
"I can help somebody, as well." Alanna said. "Caprice? Are you hurt?"  
  
"Yessum." Said Caprice. She turned her face and showed Alanna a rather large, but shallow, cut from the middle of her right cheek, over her eye, and to right above her nose.  
  
"You're lucky this didn't hit your eye!" Alanna said. "There wouldn't be much I could do. I take it somebody did this with a rapier. Never liked those things myself, they don't cut as deep as regular swords."  
  
"Will you leave a scar?" Caprice asked. "I think it looks stylish."  
  
"I would have said the same thing." Alanna grinned. "It's quite dashing."  
  
"Say, I just remembered something!" Kate exclaimed. "I can heal, too!"  
  
"Heal me, Nurse Kate!" Diana said, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
"Okaly-dokaly, patient Diana." Kate said, gathering blue fire in the palm of her hand. "I hope I don't kill you by mistake."  
  
"Me too." Diana said, beginning to have second thoughts about this whole operation.  
  
"I believe I could heal somebody, too." Numair said. "Diana, you can try as well."  
  
"What about me, Numnums?" Raganas asked.  
  
"Well for one thing," Numair said, "we're all out of injured people. And second, your magic is best for war purposes and can sometimes go haywire when it's used for healing."  
  
Maria and Krizsta ambled up. Numair said a word and the gash on Maria's leg rippled like water and disappeared.  
  
"That was awesome!" Maria cried. "Can I learn to do that?"  
  
"No." Numair said. "It only works for me, as I made up the spell. Sorry."  
  
"Those of us who have to do it the long way," Diana said, "We shun you. We cast you from our intimate circle."  
  
"You're done, Caprice." Alanna said. "I left you the scar like you asked. The swelling will go down in less than an hour."  
  
"Swelling?" Caprice asked, nervously, feeling her face.  
  
"She's jokin'." George said, leaning on his wife, who was almost a foot and a half shorter than him.  
  
"Don't lean on me 'home boy'," Alanna growled at her husband.  
  
Liney fell over. "HOME BOY!" She then commenced to laugh hysterically as people slowly inched away and Gregory sat on her stomach. "Uuf. Get off me, kumquat."  
  
"You're done, Lady." Neal said to Lady Light, giving her a hand up.  
  
"You, too." Diana said to Krizsta, brushing off her hands, making sparks of green magic fly off of them.  
  
"And you." Kate said to Diana. "And I believe you are still alive."  
  
Diana crossed her arms in mock irritation. "Good, because if I'm dead, I'm suing."  
  
~*~  
  
"Well," Maddy asked. "What are your questions?"  
  
"Firstly, I want to tell you that if you can somehow get a Mister Arram Draper in here you will be free." Jillian said. "Now, I would like to ask you-"  
  
"Wait!" Maddy said. "I need to ask you something first."  
  
"Not the time, Maddy," Meron hissed in her ear.  
  
"What do you want, girl?" Jillian growled.  
  
"Could you make me a sandwich?" Maddy asked. "I haven't had anything to eat today but a pear, and that might have been yesterday."  
  
Shaking with anger Jillian pulled an expensive-looking dagger out of one of the folds in her dress. "If you are going to fool with me I'm going to fool with you." She said slowly. "Now it only takes one idiot to answer a few questions, doesn't it? Now which idiot will be the one to stay and which will be the one to go?" She grinned at Maddy and said, "I think I know who will be the one to go."  
  
Maddy yelped and scurried to hide behind a table, she tripped on an unevenly placed floor stone and fell behind Nell.  
  
"Move aside, Nell." Jillian growled. "I've almost got her."  
  
"No." Nell said softly, and then louder. "No, Jillian."  
  
"Ex-excuse me?" Jillian stuttered, throwing the dagger to the ground, where it clattered loudly and skidded to Meron's feet. Jillian, however, did not notice. "You dare stand up to me, Nell? How d-dare you!"  
  
"Your reign of terror here is over, Jillian." Nell said. "And I will put an end to it myself."  
  
"You wo-wouldn't." Jillian said, grabbing for something on a table at her back without letting her eyes off Nell who was advancing slowly. "Not after all I've done for you."  
  
"Like bossing me around while you laze about?" Nell asked, almost unsure of what she was hearing.  
  
Jillian had found what she was looking for: A large glass bottle with a multicolored liquid in it. The liquid glowed, not one color, but seemingly every color imaginable and it did not reflect light, but drew it in and absorbed it. "Take one more step toward me and I'll do it!" Jillian threatened, waving the bottle about by the neck. "I'm warning you."  
  
Nell stopped in her tracks. Maddy almost ran into her. "What's in there?" Maddy asked Nell. "That colored stuff."  
  
"It's all the magic from all over Tortall." Nell said, shuddering. "If she uncorks the lid that little bottle has enough power to destroy all of Tortall."  
  
"Could have fooled me." Maddy said. "It looks like booze."  
  
Meron chuckled despite the current situation, and then he noticed something. He bent down slowly, as to not attract attention and picked up the dagger at his feet. He then slowly arose and caught Nell's eye. "Catch!" Meron yelled as he threw the dagger at her, the handle first.  
  
Nell caught the dagger and plunged it into Jillian's stone cold heart. She smiled triumphantly as Jillian tried to scream but couldn't. Jillian fell to the ground with a flop and stopped moving, still glaring at Nell, the one who had betrayed her. The one who had betrayed her to her death.  
  
"Say," Nell said, "that was enough adventure for one day. Let's say we go back to your camp. Are there any cute guys there?"  
  
Maddy winked at Meron and said, "Yeah sure, but then we got Meron, and well- "  
  
"Hey!" Meron said, crossing his arms. "Women."  
  
~*~  
  
WOOT! I'm finally almost done. Aw, I'm sorry, I know that probably doesn't overwhelm you. But think of it this way, the sooner I'm done, the sooner you get to read the sequel! Hehe. Now you see it my way. Actually I'm looking forward to taking a break. Whoo.  
  
What'll happen in the next chapter, roughly:  
  
We all go somewhere to celebrate! I'm not sure if it's just going to be somebody's house or a tavern or something, but we'll go somewhere! Hehe.  
  
There'll be a lot of pairing off and stuff like that. *Wink, wink*  
  
And finally, we'll make a few decisions. Like, who wants to go home, and who would like to stay. Tell me in a review whether you want to stay. If you don't review, I'm sending you home, Missy! Hehe. That sounds like something Grandma would say.  
  
So, I hope you liked it! I expect maybe there's only one more chapter and the epilogue left. *Dances around* This is so exciting! I'm finally finishing something I started. *Frolics around* Please review! Any things I should improve? Am I a horrible speller? Do I have bad "sentence structure"? I hate English class for teaching me about that. *Shudders* Evil. Well, toodles!  
  
Luv,  
  
Maddy  
  
P.S. CRACKERS! 


	27. We won

"We're free!" Yelled a happily dancing Maddy, grabbing Meron and giving him a rather large smooch right on the lips. "Yippee, we're free!"  
  
Nell picked up the jar filled with magic and, with all possible care, uncorked it and chucked it out the window. A loud boom could be heard as Maddy, Meron and Nell grinned as they felt things go back to normal all over Tortall.  
  
"Race you?" Maddy asked, gesturing at the door.  
  
"For once," Meron said, "I would. Nell?"  
  
"Already there!" Nell cried, running down the hallway.  
  
"No fair!" Maddy exclaimed. "You cheated! Cheater, cheater you're name's not Peter! Woah!" Meron had scooped her up and was carrying her down the hall, which Maddy enjoyed. Very much so, in fact. Who wouldn't?  
  
Nell was waiting for them at the gate. "Took you long enough." She said, and yipped for no apparent reason.  
  
"Well, open the door already." Maddy said, hopping around as if she had to go to the bathroom. "Hurry! Hurry!"  
  
Meron grinned. "With pleasure, my queen," he said, sweeping a mock bow and kicking the door open.  
  
Maddy screamed in glee and tore off, head down, racking toward the camp with amazing speed for someone so small.  
  
"What's that dust cloud coming toward us?" Diana asked.  
  
"Not more enemies, I hope." Maria said, fingers crossed and eyes shut tight.  
  
"No, guys!" Marc cried. "It's Maddy!"  
  
Cat looked up from chewing through the ropes that bound her to the tree. "Maddy?" She asked. "Yay! Now somebody untie me before I get out and chew your bloody arms off! Which, I might add, I don't particularly want to do at this time."  
  
"Don't yell at me!" Raoul said as Buri untied the ropes.  
  
"Yes," Buri agreed. "He's got a rather low self-esteem." She lowered down and whispered to Cat, "Don't make it any worse for me, please."  
  
Cat popped up, nodded, shook off any remaining ropes and sped off to reunite with her friends. Maddy unfortunately didn't see her coming and heat butted her in the stomach. Causing her to double over, completely winded.  
  
"Whoops, sorry there." Maddy said. Then she saw who it was. "CAT!" She grabbed Cat in a tight hug, squeezing her tightly.  
  
"Can't...Breathe!" Cat gasped.  
  
"Sorry again." Maddy said, giving a little bow, for no real reason. "Ta!" She nodded and ran down only to collide with Liney and Gregory.  
  
"Can't you run anywhere without a collision?" Meron asked, coming up behind Maddy as Nell and Cat made a series of excited gestures and began yelling at each other. ("Hi!" "HEY!" "Oh my gods!" "Oh my gods!" "How are you?" "How are YOU?")  
  
"Nope!" Maddy said happily, swinging her head around smacking Liney in the face with her strawberry blond hair.  
  
"Ow!" Liney said massaging her nose. "What is your hair made of? Bricks?"  
  
"I don't know..." Maddy pondered aloud. "Maybe! But how would I fit bricks into my hair?"  
  
Meron laughed while Liney and Gregory rolled their eyes. Suddenly Meron cried, "DAD!" And ran off to give a huge hug to Cleon. "What's cooking?"  
  
"Food?" Cleon asked, wide-eyed.  
  
"We're surrounded by idiots." Murmered Olivia.  
  
"But they're OUR idiots!" Rosefyre cried hugging Maddy, Meron and introducing herself to Nell.  
  
Kate grinned quite happily and said simply, "happy."  
  
"We all are I think." Alanna said. "Happy indeed."  
  
"Let's go somewhere to celebrate!" Maria said. "Now that everybody's together again."  
  
"Not everybody!" Meron said. "Where's Anne Marie?"  
  
Everyone looked down at their boots. "Don't tell me..." Meron said, "She's gone? That's horrible."  
  
"It is." Raganas said. "But we'll always remember her, right?"  
  
"Well, naturally!" Samkin said. "Let's roll!"  
  
"Wait," Kathryn interrupted. "Where are we going?"  
  
"I've got a place." George said, grinning.  
  
~*~  
  
Two hours later at the Dancing Dove, a small tavern in Tortall's capital, everyone happily celebrated their victory and the returning of all the magic to its rightful owners. The adults were sipping beer and wine, while the teenagers were sipping an assortment of juices, with the exception of Peter, who had charmed the tavern maid into thinking he was old enough to have beer.  
  
Maddy however, was not drinking anything. She was happily munching away on a stick of butter that she had "borrowed" from a man eating toast. Meron and Kaitlin, who were sitting on either side of her, had scooted over a little, as it was rather disgusting.  
  
Cleon was no better. He had put jam in his beer and was digging it out with a spoon. After a while, he and Maddy switched, so she was eating the jam, and he had put the butter in his beer.  
  
After a few minutes Peter got sick from drinking his beer, and threw up on Kate. Kate, disgustedly, asked a few people working at the Dancing Dove to carry him up to a room.  
  
"Sure!" The barmaid said. "If you need anything else we're here." She gave a wink at her companion, a thin, well-muscled brunett, with piercing black eyes. "I'm Alli, and that's Blair!"  
  
"Gotcha." Lady Light said. "Call ya if we need ya!"  
  
With that Alli and Blair proceeded to carry Peter off to a back room where he could get well laying down on a bed. Alli and Blair came back in a few moments.  
  
"Sorry." Blair said, "But you're actually going to have to call somebody else if you need something. We're going off on our brake."  
  
He and Alli skipped happily off to do only the gods know what. Everyone stared at them for a bit, before going back to their drinks, or in Cleon and Maddy's case, lard and marmalade.  
  
"I couldn't have another sip of apple juice." Krizsta said, pushing her mug away.  
  
"What about lemonade?" Neal asked.  
  
"Sure!" Cried Krizsta, grabbing Raoul's lemonade jug away from him.  
  
"You're so mean to me!" Raoul cried as Buri glared daggers at Krizsta.  
  
Krizsta took a long gulp of Raoul's "brew" and handing it back to him, giving him a little pat on the arm. "That's good stuff, boy," She said grinning.  
  
"I need to get some air." Numair announced, standing up and brushing imaginary specs of dirt off his pants as he strolled toward the exit.  
  
"What?" Maddy asked. "Is there not enough air in here?"  
  
"WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Screamed Cleon. "HELP!"  
  
Maddy got up and began to run around the tavern, followed shortly by Cleon. This went on until Meron decided that his father and friend were making complete and utter fools of themselves and had Alanna, George, Buri and Raoul go over to knock them unconscious. Olivia followed and had a bit of fun tying Maddy and Cleon's bootlaces together.  
  
Cat sauntered over to a particularly attractive male and fluttered her eyelashes. He grinned at her and said, "May I help you, gorgeous?"  
  
Cat grinned and blushed before saying, "Do you have soup here?"  
  
The man stared at her for a second, before grinning and saying, "Certainly miss, right away!" He hurried off to get some from the chef.  
  
Nell chuckled at her friend and focused her flirting skills on another rather handsome staff member. She walked over to him and struck up conversation, "Hey, sexy, what's cooking?"  
  
"I'm Kent!" Said the bartender. "Who are you." He grinned widely, showing very, very white teeth.  
  
"I'm Na-Nahhhh. . ." Nell started getting lost in Kent's smile. She shook her head a bit and said, "Nell! I'm Nell!"  
  
"Hey, Nell," Kent said, flashing Nell another smile. Nell absolutely melted.  
  
Numair strolled back in, noticing Cat who was slurping her soup between seductive glances at a male bartender, Nell turning to butter, and taking a quick glance at Cleon and Maddy, who were lying on the floor, both sporting large bumps on the tops of their noggins. He blinked, nodded, and figured they had probably all gotten themselves into it, and it was their fault. He walked over to Daine, Alanna, and Kel and whispered to them. Alanna grinned from ear to ear and rushed outside, followed by Daine and Kel.  
  
"What?" Kate asked. "Who's there?"  
  
"Just some friends." Numair said.  
  
"Friends?" Kate exclaimed. "Cool! Come on Neal." She grabbed Neal by the cuff of his sleeve and dragged him outside after her.  
  
Meron walked over and calmly sat on Maddy's stomach. Maddy gave a little 'oomph,' but didn't do anything more. Cleon woke up suddenly, sat straight up and hit his head on the edge of a table, knocking him back out.  
  
Raganas pointed at Cleon and laughed outright as Rosefyre sighed and went off to get something for the huge purple and red bruise that was appearing on Cleon's forehead where it had hit the table.  
  
Kate skipped back into the tavern singing happily, "Guess who's here! You can't guess who's heeeeeeeere! And I'm not going to tell you who's heeeeeeere!"  
  
"Who is it?" Maria asked immediately.  
  
"It's Tammy and the KING!" Kate exclaimed. Then she realized what she had just said, and grinned impishly. "Whoops."  
  
Rosefyre came back with a bucket of water. "Tammy's here?" She asked. "Yay!" She hurriedly threw the water on Cleon and rushed outside.  
  
Cleon blinked, blurry eyed and sat up slowly. "Where am I?"  
  
"A bar, Da." Meron said.  
  
"Goody!" Cleon said, clapping his hands. "Would somebody get me a beer?"  
  
"I've got it under control." Buri said, handing Cleon a beer with extra foam on top.  
  
"Are you sure it's a good idea to give him beer?" Asked Marc.  
  
"Yeah," Kathryn added, "If he's like this when he's sober, I hate to think what he's like when he's drunk!"  
  
The door of the Dancing Dove opened once again to reveal a very pleased looking King Jonathon, a happy Tamora, and several assorted others.  
  
"TAMMY!" Liney yelled leaping up from her seat and hurtling over Gregory, Meron and Maddy to get to Tammy. "How ya been, woman?"  
  
Tamora grinned at the way Liney said 'woman' and gave her a little hug. "Great, girl." She looked at Cat and Nell, who had abandoned their flirting to join the ring of people around Tammy and the king. "And who are you two? I don't recognize you."  
  
"I'm Cat," said Cat. "And that's Nell. We're the bad guys."  
  
"But not any more!" Nell said. "No, no, no, no, we're good now."  
  
"You were the bad guys?" King Jonathon asked sternly, causing Nell and Cat to give little shakes of fear. "That's no good girls, as the king I..."  
  
"Give it a rest, Jon!" Alanna said. "They're good now. Let's just leave it."  
  
"Meanie." Jon said, glaring at Alanna. "Why must you always be like that?"  
  
"Like what?" Alanna growled.  
  
"Nothing, Ma'am!" Jonathan said, saluting. "Just reporting for orders, Ma'am. Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"  
  
"Don't make me cause you bodily harm." Snarled Alanna.  
  
"Uuuuuhm." Maddy groaned, rubbing her eyes. "My brain hurts."  
  
"Woah!" Tammy exclaimed. "What happened to you? There's a bump on your head the size of Denver! I mean. . .a camel."  
  
"What's a camel?" Samkin asked.  
  
"Food." Peter said.  
  
"Sounds good." Samkin said.  
  
Maddy stood up with a bit of help from the Meron, but mostly help from a table, and staggered over to give Tammy a hug. She then joined the circle with everybody else, sitting down, though, as her legs were still a wee bit weak.  
  
"We're all one big happy family once again." Kel said.  
  
"This pleases Maddy." Maddy said.  
  
Everyone smiled. Everyone was happy. Finally.  
  
~*~ Five Years Later ~*~  
  
~Extract from the diary of Maddy of Kennan ~  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
Life in Kennan is all I wanted when I was little; exciting, exotic, wonderful, and with someone as crazy as myself. My parents live in a lovely little cottage in Kennan. I'm so happy that they actually believed me when I went home five years ago and told them that I had met the man of my dreams in an alternate dimension and that we were getting married. If they had been me I wouldn't have believed me. Or would it have been them? Now I'm confused.  
  
I've still kept up with all the old gang, whether in the earth world or this one, even Anne Marie, who sadly has no recollection at all of Tortall (or being in it) and believes it to be only a dream. Poor lass.  
  
Liney, now Liney of Wingstouch, married to good old Gregory is coming in a bit, maybe I should get ready, put on a decent dress instead of the breeches I'm wearing now. . .NAW! Why bother?  
  
I think I hear our son calling. No, that's Meron, got his finger caught in the door again. Hopefully young Kent will get him out. Kent's certainly grown! He's 2 years old and he's already running to walls. I'm proud. My two favorite men in the world.  
  
I must be going!  
CARPE DIEM EVER AFTER  
  
~*~  
  
MY MASTERPIECE IS FINISHED! Aren't you pleased! I sure am! Haha! *Giddy* I can't believe I actually finished. I love all of you guys, stay in touch! I'm FieryCatDemon!  
  
^_______________________________________^ (The very, very, extremely happy smiley)  
  
Luv,  
  
Maddy 


End file.
